Longtime Nevada journalist Phyllis Anne Pershing, known to Reno Gazette-Journal readers as columnist “Grandma with Attitude,” has died at the age of 71.
The Reno Gazette-Journal announced her death on Saturday, and said she died of heart failure on Thursday.
According to the RGJ, Pershing began as a reporter for the Lahontan Valley News in 1983. She worked her way to news editor and eventually became the general manager and executive vice president until 2003.
In 2004, she launched the Fallon Star Press, serving as executive editor.
Pershing was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for her work on a series on child leukemia in Fallon from 1999 to 2002. She was also awarded the Associated Press Public Service award in 2001.
Pershing also served as the president of the Nevada Press Association board for a year in 1993. She was inducted into the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2009.
There's no immediate word on services.
