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Popular blogger, journalist, publisher, and writer Nikki Finke passed away on October 9 at the age of 68. The founder, chairman, and CEO of Penske Media Corporation, Jay Penske, paid tribute to her and stated:
“At her best, Nikki Finke embodied the spirit of journalism, and was never afraid to tell the hard truths with an incisive style and an enigmatic spark. She was brash and true. It was never easy with Nikki, but she will always remain one of the most memorable people in my life.”
Nikki Finke’s died of a prolonged illness
Nikki Finke’s family confirmed that she died of a prolonged illness. It remains unknown if she was suffering from any other health issues and her medical history is undisclosed.
Born on December 16, 1953, she was raised in the village of Sands Point, Nassau County, New York, and completed her graduation from Wellesley College.
Finke initially worked at New York congressman Ed Koch’s office in Washington, D.C. She then joined the Associated Press and covered the 1977 New York City mayoral campaign for Koch. She eventually began working on the Associated Press’ foreign desk at the New York City headquarters, Baltimore, Boston, Moscow, and London.
She joined Newsweek as a correspondent in Washington and Los Angeles, and also worked as a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times. She was the West Coast Editor for The New York Observer and New York, and wrote for the Hollywood business section. She also wrote for The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Premiere, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, and other publications.
Nikki Finke penned down a weekly column titled Deadline Hollywood for LA Weekly from June 2002 to June 2009 and started the Deadline blog in March 2006. The readership for Deadline increased during the Writers Guild of America strike in 2007.
Nikki sold the blog to Jay Penske’s Mail.com Media Corp reportedly for $14 million in 2009. Deadline Hollywood then announced Nikki’s departure in November 2013.
She then launched NikkiFinke.com in June 2014 and HollywoodDementia.com in August 2015. The latter was a site for showbiz short fiction and the stories were written by her and other insiders.
On the occasion of Deadline Hollywood’s 10th anniversary in May 2016, the website printed Nikki’s remembrance on her journey of launching the column. It stated that when she launched the website in 2006. At the time, she needed a fast way to report breaking entertainment news compared to the weekly newspaper column and so she bought the URL for $14.
It continued:
“I didn’t set out to be a disruptor. Or an internet journalist who created something out of nothing that put the Hollywood trades back on their heels, and today, under Penske Media ownership, is a website worth $100+ million. Or a woman with brass balls, attitude and ruthless hustle, who told hard truths about the moguls and who accurately reported scoops first.”
Nikki Finke's LA Weekly columns were the recipients of the Alternative Weekly Awards for Media Reporting/Criticism, Circulation >50,000. Nikki also won the Los Angeles Press Club’s Southern California Journalism Award for Entertainment Journalist of the Year in 2007.
Nikki’s memorial will be held in a private ceremony. She is survived by her nieces Sarah Greenhill and Diana Leighton, sister Terry Finke Dreyfus, and her brother-in-law James.
