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Michael Udy Parrish ’70

A picture of Michael Parrish

Michael Parrish ’70 on the Niger River in 2007

Michael Udy Parrish ’70, February 8, 2013, in Los Angeles, California. Before coming to Reed, Michael built wells in desert villages in Niger as a Peace Corps volunteer. After earning a BA in general literature, he interned with I.F. Stone’s Weekly in Washington, D.C., and then worked for San Francisco Magazine and as editor of Francis Ford Coppola’s City magazine. He was founding editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine and reported for the Times on the environment, including the Exxon Valdez crisis and Kuwait oil fires. He did freelance work for regional and national publications, such as Smithsonian and Life, and was an adjunct lecturer at USC Annenberg School and a licensed private investigator. In 2001, he published For the People: Inside the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office 1850–2000. Michael maintained a connection to Niger, returning to do a feature for Life magazine in 1985 and for a documentary with his fellow Peace Corps volunteers in 2008. Survivors include his wife, Judie Lewellen; his daughter; mother; and three sisters.

Appeared in Reed magazine: June 2013