Nikki Finke, who grew up in Sands Point and was a reknowned entertainment reporter, died on Sunday in Boca Raton, Fl., at 68.
A family spokesperson announced her death, noting only that it was the result of a prolonged illness.
Finke attended Buckley Country Day School in North Hills as well as the Hewitt School in Manhattan. She later received her bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College, where she served as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief.
After graduating from Wellesley, Finke’s first job was as a staff assistant for Congressman Ed Koch, a Democrat, who would later become New York City’s mayor. She said she became a reporter after observing Koch and his employees bowing to journalists.
Finke started working for the Associated Press as a reporter in 1975. She moved to The Dallas Morning News in the early 1980s before joining Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times and other publications.
She began writing an online column called Deadline Hollywood for the LA Weekly in 2002. In March 2006, she started the Deadline Hollywood Daily blog as an online supplement to her weekly column which became a must-read in the entertainment industry.
In 2009, the Jay Penske company, now known as Penske Media Corp., purchased Deadline. Finke would leave Deadline on Nov. 5, 2013.
She started NikkiFinke.com on June 12, 2014. She also launched HollywoodDementia.com on Aug. 3, 2015, as a platform for showbiz short stories written by her and other insiders.
Finke was divorced and had no children. Her sister, Terry Finke Dreyfus, survives her.
