When Bob Baker was a teenager in the San Fernando Valley of the 1960s, his mom suggested he try his hand at writing for his high school newspaper.
Her suggestion laid the foundation for a distinguished career as a reporter and editor at the Los Angeles Times and a post-retirement stint as a writing coach for newspapers across the country.
Baker died Friday in a Santa Monica hospital after a long battle with two debilitating illnesses, Parkinson's and Lewy body disease, his wife said. He was 67.
He was a prolific journalist whose 1981 "Newsthinking: Making Your Facts Fall Into Place" was reissued several years later as a textbook for college journalism students.