Leading business journalist Gary Klott, 52, dies in SLO Former N.Y. Times staffer was a strong advocate of reporting ethics
Tad Weber
The Tribune

(San Luis Obisp) -- Gary L. Klott, one of America’s foremost business journalists and a strong advocate for business-reporting ethics, died Saturday at his San Luis Obispo home. He was 52.
In January 2000, Klott founded TaxPlanet.com, a comprehensive year-round tax resource for consumers. It has been named one of the best tax sites on the Web by such publications as Forbes, Money and U.S. News and World Report.

A former tax columnist for The New York Times, Klott also wrote a weekly tax column that was syndicated to newspapers across the country through Tribune Media Services. His column appeared every Saturday in The Tribune’s business section.

Klott wrote two other weekly columns that were syndicated to newspapers nationwide by the National Newspaper Syndicate: “Money Watch” and “Real Estate Tax Tip.”

Since the early 1980s, Klott’s features and personal finance columns had appeared in hundreds of newspapers across America.

Klott earned praise for making tax and personal finance matters easy to understand.

He was a pioneer in the 1980s in bringing journalistic standards to bear on business reporting, said Jim Kennedy, former business editor for the Associated Press.

“Gary was almost a legendary figure in business journalism,” Kennedy said. “He came into the specialty in the very early stages when (business news) became something beyond the pages of The Wall Street Journal.”

At The New York Times, Klott served as a business reporter and columnist in New York and Washington, D.C.

While at The Times, he covered the Tax Reform Act of 1986. His work on explaining that landmark legislation to Times’ readers later led to his authoring “The New York Times Complete Guide to the New Tax Law,” which Money magazine rated as the best book on the 1986 act. He also wrote “The Complete Financial Guide to the 1990s,” a featured selection of the Fortune Book Club, and “The New York Times Complete Guide to Personal Investing,” a featured selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club.

Before joining The Times, Klott was a national business and economic affairs correspondent for United Press International in New York.

Klott was the 1994-95 president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. It was in that capacity that Klott influenced the ethical standards set forth by the professional society.

“Gary Klott was not only a brilliant business journalist and leader in the field, but he was also a passionate crusader for the highest ethical standards in business journalism,” said Myron Kandel, CNN financial editor and a former SABEW president.

Kandel said Klott led the way in refining the group’s pioneering code of ethics to deal with such matters as conflicts of interest facing business reporters. Klott also believed strongly in keeping the influence of a paper’s advertising department away from the newsroom.

“He was considered the conscience of business journalism,” Kandel said.

Klott was a longtime member of the New York Financial Writers Association, and was a professional member of the Online News Association.

Klott was born Oct. 4, 1949, in Chicago. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1971-74 aboard the USS Kitty Hawk as a communications officer.

An accomplished pianist, Klott once formed a 22-member jazz band. He also composed musical pieces to be performed at Jewish services.

He graduated from the University of Illinois in Urbana in 1971.

Klott is survived by his wife, Sandra J. Duerr, executive editor of The Tribune; son Alex; daughter Jackie; brothers David L. Klott and his wife, Maren Randrup, of San Francisco and Richard S. Klott and his wife, Evalyn, of Chicago; parents-in-law Francis and Jane Duerr of Louisville, Ky.; and nieces Cori and Lyndsie Klott of Chicago.

A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Reis Chapel in San Luis Obispo.

A midcareer scholarship focusing on business journalism ethics is being established in Klott’s name. Contributions may be mailed to the Gary L. Klott midcareer scholarship in business journalism, payable to SABEW, Missouri School of Journalism, 134 Neff Annex, Columbia, Mo., 65211-1200. Write Gary L. Klott scholarship fund on the check memo line.

Tribune Senior Staff Writer Silas Lyons contributed to this report.

Go back to Gary Klott: Words and Memories