November 22, 2024 -- Ed Moosbrugger -- known for his overall decency, unwavering fairness as a journalist and encyclopedic knowledge of Santa Monica businesses -- died October 21 from complications from post-polio syndrome. He was 87.
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| Ed Moosbrugger as a young reporter working at home (Courtesy of the Moosbrugger family) |
Services will be held at St. Monica's Catholic Church on Saturday at 10 a.m., and the service will be live streamed and archived at https://vimeo.com/event/4727586.
As The Evening Outlook's business writer for 30 years, Moosbrugger chronicled Santa Monica's transformation from a suburban beach town to an international tourist destination and high-tech hub.
He was trusted by Westside business owners who provided inside tips on breaking news stories and covered major projects including the building of Santa Monica Place.
Throughout his career as a reporter, Moosbrugger adhered to a code of ethics that sought to balance both sides of a story and avoid any hint of subjectivity.
"He was solid as a rock," said Skip Rimer, who was the Outlook's executive editor from 1984 to 1998. "You could always turn to him and know he would do his job.
"He was an old-time journalist", Rimer said. "He had his sources who he trusted. He was the encyclopedia of The Outlook."
"He was always there, always reliable and just a great guy to be around," said Outlook sportswriter Chris Long, who worked with Moosbrugger for 25 years and played with him on the paper's softball team.
After The Outlook shut down in 1998, Moosbrugger wrote a monthly column for a decade for the Bayside Beat, a newsletter published by the Bayside District Corporation, now Downtown Santa Monica, Inc.
"He was one of those old-school, old-fashioned journalists that always got the story right," said Kathleen Rawson, who ran the Downtown agency from 1997 to 2022.
"He was smart, diligent and loved the community," Rawson said. "He was salt of the earth, decent and caring."
Edward Arthur Moosbrugger was born on November 26, 1936, in Long Beach, where his father was stationed at the Naval base before becoming a commander of destroyer squadrons in World War II, with the USS Moosbrugger named after him.
Moosbrugger would grow up near Naval bases, including Pearl Harbor, where at age five he witnessed Japanese aircraft flying over the island, according to his youngest son, Earl.
"He would move every two to three years as his father was relocated, making it difficult for him to forge long-term friendships with other kids," Earl Moosbrugger said.
"He told us that his dream was to eventually settle down and raise a family in one location, never to move again," he said. "He wanted to plant deep roots and provide a stable home for his family."
Moosbrugger graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in journalism and economics and was a sports writer for the school paper.
In 1964, he moved to Santa Monica, where he landed a job at The Evening Outlook covering Westside businesses, and achieved his dream of settling down.
"I can only surmise that this might have been a reason why he later became so involved in the community," his son said.
Moosbrugger became a member of St. Monica's parish, where he was a volunteer and served as a Eucharistic Minister and attended Charismatic Renewals.
"He was a man of deep faith," said Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson, pastor of St. Monica's, who met Moosbrugger in the early 1980s. "Kind of a quiet fellow, but he was a very, very good man."
Moosbrugger was also a leading member of the Rotary Club and served as chairman of the Santa Monica Red Cross.
For several generations of Santa Monica journalists, Moosbrugger was the quiet, diligent reporter in the corner of the newsroom who seemed a throwback to a more honest past.
"The Outlook was a high quality, spunky, community newspaper that always delivered. And one could say the same exact thing about Ed," said Lou Brancaccio, the paper's managing editor in the mid 1990s.
"He was always there for other reporters and the community he loved."
Lisa Mascaro, AP's Congressional correspondent, recalls Moosbrugger as "the more established steady presence."
"I kept thinking he's like the grownup in the room," said Mascaro, who was a young reporter working at the Outlook in the mid-90s.
"He had that wavy silver hair. He really looked like another generation from us."
Moosbrugger's daughter, Carol Young, recalls her father preferred to write with a pencil, even after computers became the norm. "He sometimes put it behind his ear and forgot he had it there," she said.
Earl Moosbrugger recalls overhearing a nephew say of his father, “I don’t think that people today even understand that people like Grandpa exist.”