George J. Cotliar, managing editor of the Los Angeles Times for 19 years, dies at 94

George J. Cotliar, who served arsenic managing exertion of the L.A. Times for 19 years during a 40-year vocation astatine the paper, has died.

Cotliar’s daughter, Sharon Cotliar-Zweifach, confirmed that Cotliar died successful his slumber aboriginal Monday astatine his location successful Newport Beach. He was 94.

“Our dad’s archetypal emotion was journalism, and arsenic overmuch arsenic helium was an incredible, dedicated father, we precise overmuch knew we were increasing up with a paper man,” Cotliar-Zweifach told The Times connected Wednesday. “He acceptable the barroom precocious successful presumption of honesty, integrity and treating radical with respect. We understood that’s however helium operated — successful his enactment and with his colleagues and with us.”

George Cotliar was calved Jan. 16, 1932, successful the Bronx to Russian immigrants. When helium was 5, his household moved to Los Angeles and settled into what helium liked to gag was the “slums of Beverly Hills.” He attended Beverly Hills High School, Los Angeles City College and, ultimately, Cal State Los Angeles, wherever helium earned a grade successful journalism.

After moving astatine an assortment of section papers astir Los Angeles, Cotliar caught upwind that The Times had an opening. He took a $13-a-week wage chopped to get his ft successful the doorway and 1 measurement person to the extremity he’d acceptable for himself portion moving a paper way astatine 11 years old: to tally the Los Angeles Times.

He was hired arsenic a newsman for the Westside conception and promoted a twelvemonth aboriginal to exertion of The Times’ suburban section; aft different year, helium took connected a transcript exertion relation earlier becoming a transcript main and past exertion of peculiar sections astatine the paper. He worked assignments successful the Metro and National departments, spent 2 years arsenic managing exertion of The Times’ Orange County edition, and aft 21 years of becoming well-acquainted with myriad roles astatine the paper, helium nabbed the rubric he’d been moving toward since people school: managing editor.

Under his watch, the paper’s sum won 10 Pulitzer Prizes and galore different accolades.

“He was a terrific manager devoted to the readers of the paper, specifically successful however the insubstantial presented the quality connected Page 1,” erstwhile Times National Editor Roger Smith said Tuesday. “He was ever striving for the champion stories and the champion equilibrium imaginable each day, and erstwhile I accidental each day, I mean each day. He was an L.A. person. He knew the metropolis and helium knew the county.”

As notorious arsenic Cotliar was for his close calls connected predetermination night, awesome memory, devotion to journalism and emotion for assemblage hoops and the Los Angeles Times, helium was besides known astir the newsroom for his occasional near-slapstick temper. Whether it was calling the politician an “a—” erstwhile helium thought he’d been hung up connected oregon slamming the instrumentality cardinal of his typewriter truthful hard that it flew off, determination was ne'er a dull infinitesimal with Cotliar astatine the helm.

L.A. Times Managing Editor George Cotliar, right, greets King Hussein of Jordan astatine a reception astatine the newspaper’s downtown Los Angeles gathering successful the 1980s. Robert W. Gibson, exertion of The Times’ Foreign section, is seen successful the background.

(Los Angeles Times)

Cotliar joined Pearl Ruth Gottlieb connected Aug. 24, 1958. She died successful December 2011.

He is survived by his son, David Cotliar, and his spouse, Kenneth Wang; his daughter, Sharon Cotliar-Zweifach, and her spouse, Dr. Eric Zweifach; and 2 grandchildren, Abigail Zweifach-Coles and Joshua Zweifach.