George Collier, former editor at Review-Journal, dies at 75
George Collier, who was editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal in the early 1980s, died Friday after a lengthy illness. He was 75.
Collier, then 43, was named editor of the Review-Journal in September 1980, replacing Don Digilio. He left a year later.
He previously worked for nearly three years as editor of the Ontario, Calif., Daily Report. Both papers were owned at the time by the Donrey Media Group.
Don Ham, deputy city editor at the Review-Journal, described Collier as an editor who did not believe in “micromanaging.” Ham also remembered Collier’s “positive attitude” and “hearty laugh.”
“I worked under him as editor of six weeklies for about three years, and as the Daily Report’s wire editor and A section editor for more than a year,” Ham said. “He was a strong editor. I learned a lot from him. He was my mentor early in my career.”
Collier was born March 27, 1937, in Indiana. He majored in history and journalism at Franklin College in Indiana and graduated in 1959.
He was on the staff of the Ontario Daily Report from 1962 to 1967, and worked his way up from a reporting job to the position of city editor.
He also worked for the Wabash, Ind., Plain Dealer as city editor and for the Santa Monica, Calif., Evening Outlook as editorial page editor.
Before becoming editor of the Daily Report, Collier was wire editor and city editor for the newspaper.
According to a 1980 Review-Journal story, Collier and his wife had three children. A daughter posted news of his death on his Facebook page, which said he was retired and living in Ontario, Calif.
His wife, Barbara, died previously.
Collier was replaced as editor of the Review-Journal by Thomas Keevil, who died in 1988.
A 1981 Review-Journal story stated that Collier would be taking another position in the Donrey Media Group in Southern California.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0264.
