Gregory Yee, a former Put up and Courier reporter who introduced verve and compassion to breaking information protection, died Jan. 4 at his residence in Los Angeles. He was 33.
Yee died unexpectedly as a result of problems from a respiratory concern, his household instructed The Los Angeles Occasions, the place he labored as a reporter.
The Los Angeles native graduated in 2012 from UC Irvine, the place he served as editor in chief for the coed newspaper, The New College. Yee held a few information jobs on the West Coast earlier than selecting up and shifting to Charleston in 2016 to cowl breaking information and prison justice at The Put up and Courier.
Right here, Yee coated an assortment of points — gun violence, excessive climate, clowns — with enthusiasm and composure.
Yee introduced consideration to deplorable dwelling situations — cockroaches, rats, mice and dirt — in Floyd Manor, a public housing constructing on the higher Charleston peninsula for senior residents and other people with disabilities, forcing public officers to make investments in Charleston’s susceptible residents.
He documented with precision and empathy how racial justice protests in the summertime of 2020 devolved into rioting in South Carolina’s oldest metropolis.
He led the newspaper’s protection of an April 2021 mass taking pictures in Rock Hill by a former NFL participant that despatched shockwaves via the city. Throughout the span of a information cycle, Yee and a crew of reporters tried to present solutions amid chaos and elevate voices of individuals hit hardest by the violence.
He left the newspaper in the summertime of 2021 for The Los Angeles Occasions, which provided him a chance to interrupt the information that formed his hometown.
Yee was a pillar of The Put up and Courier’s neighborhood of reporters each out and in of the newsroom.
Present and former reporters on the newspaper remembered his highly effective snigger, mild nature and skill to carry individuals collectively over a home-cooked meal.
Deanna Pan, now a reporter at The Boston Globe, recalled how the power within the newsroom shifted when Yee arrived to work the night time shift.
“A joke from Greg, or a burst of his laughter, may unbind no matter tedium and drudgery mired us,” she mentioned. “He reminded us why we do the work that we do as a result of he confirmed us daily the depth of affection people are able to.”
“Greg was endlessly beneficiant along with his time, his spirit and his skills,” mentioned Thad Moore, an investigative reporter for the newspaper. “His empathy and thoughtfulness infused his reporting and his friendships. His enthusiasm, power and snigger made this newsroom particular for a technology of us.”
Thomas Novelly, who labored with Yee in Charleston and now studies for army.com, was reminded of knowledgeable axiom: human first, journalist second.
“Greg by no means needed to be reminded of that. He knew how you can completely steadiness these two roles,” Novelly mentioned. “He was a devoted journalist whose relentless pursuit of tales by no means hindered him from being a devoted good friend to everybody within the newsroom. He was a uncommon breed and he’ll be missed.”
Former digital editor Brooks Brunson remembers assembly Yee in 2016 on Yee’s first day of labor at The Put up and Courier.
The California man was exhausting to overlook.
“He had on a Hawaiian shirt and he at the moment had actually lengthy hair and he had this huge bun on prime of his head,” Brunson mentioned.
They rapidly grew to become shut pals, bonding over Yerba mate tea and dealing late nights. Finally, they moved in along with one other reporter in a home in Wagener Terrace, the place Yee cooked breakfast each morning.
“One of many heartbreaking issues is I’ll by no means have a Greg meal once more,” mentioned Brunson, who’s Head Viewers Editor of New York Public Radio’s WNYC.
Along with grilling for his pals, she added, Yee learn poetry, drove a stick shift, spoke fluent Spanish and performed the saxophone.
Yee’s father instructed the L.A. Occasions of his son’s inquisitiveness.
“He was at all times interested by every little thing,” Andrew Yee instructed The Occasions. “I take consolation in figuring out Gregory got here again to L.A. and was thriving on the paper. He mentioned he felt like (journalism) was a calling, prefer it’s in his genes to do it.”
Yee is survived by his mother and father and two sisters.
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