Mike Penner, Transsexual Sportswriter, dead at 52
Mike Penner, a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times, died Friday. He is believed to have committed suicide, though an official cause of death has yet to be determined. He was 52.
Penner announced he was a “transsexual sportswriter” in 2007 via his column: “It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-searching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words,” he wrote.
And: “I gave it as good a fight as I possibly could. I went more than 40 hard rounds with it. Eventually, though, you realize you are only fighting yourself and your happiness and your mental health — a no-win situation any way you look at it.”
Shortly thereafter, Penner began writing under the name Christine Daniels, but would return to using Mike Penner by October 2008.
A longtime writer for the LA Times, Penner covered all kinds of sporting events including the Olympics, the Angels, World Cup soccer, tennis, and various other sports media in addition to other assignments.
Born in 1957, Penner was a California native his entire life. Before writing for the LA Times, he worked for the Anaheim Bulletin, and then joined the Orange County Edition of the LA Times in 1983, for which he covered high school sports.
Penner is survived by his brother, John, a copy editor, and his former wife, Lisa Dillman, a writer. Both work at the LA Times.
Memorial services are said to be pending.
[photo: LA Times]
Tags: Christine Daniels, LA Times, Mike Penner, sportswriter, suicide