Ex-LA Times editor John Carroll passes away

Former editor of The Los Angeles Times, John S. Carroll, died Sunday of a rare neurological ailment. He was 73.

A widely admired newspaper editor who restored the reputation and credibility of The Los Angeles Times in the early 2000s, Carroll died at his home in Lexington, Kentucky.

Lee Carroll, his wife, was quoted by the New York Times, as saying that the cause of death was Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare neurological disorder.

With a gentle demeanor that belied his passion for ambitious investigative stories, Carroll, according to the NYT, helped deliver 13 Pulitzer Prizes to The Times during his five-years as editor, which ended in 2005.

It was the last of three daily newspapers he edited over more than four decades.

Though he lacked the celebrity, and swagger of The Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, Carroll was regarded as one of the most influential newspaper editors of his era.