RIP, Lynn DeBruin

[MileHigh]

I wasn't going to put up anything about it because Lynn would have hated it, but AP has moved a story, and well, I'm sure there are many on here who knew Lynn who might not have known.

I've known for awhile the cancer had come back, and I've been heartbroken all week after learning the end was near. I got a text late last night that she had passed away.

She was 51.

I worked with Lynn for five-plus years, up until the Rocky Mountain News closed in February 2009. She later went on to be the AP sportswriter out of Salt Lake City.

Lynn lived her life to the fullest. Always had a smile. Very dogged reporter. Very outdoors person. Loved to ski, golf and climb 14ers.

The outpouring from her former Rocky colleagues has been overwhelming this morning. And the great Drew Litton posted a "Mourning Sketch" this morning that I feel obligated to share.

A former co-worker and good friend who has been with her these past few weeks was there last night. "She fought it hard to the end," he texted me.

That was Lynn.

RIP, Lynn. You were one of the great ones and you're going to be missed.

Oh, and fork you, cancer.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/lynn-debruin-ap-sports-writer-utah-dies-51

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Knew her pretty well when We were both covering the NFL. She was a friend of a friend and we would hang out semi frequently when we'd be at the national events. She was a riot.

RIP

Terrible news.

 

[alanpagerules]

Lynn was terrific. She will be missed.

 

[MileHigh]

Very classy move by the Post to enhance the obit from AP by getting many quotes from folks who were affiliated with the Rocky.

http://bit.ly/14tugIO

 

[Mizzougrad96]

This is my favorite Lynn story...

We're at the NFL Owner's Meetings in Palm Beach in 2004. About 12 of us decide to go to dinner at a local Steakhouse and with all of the liquor that is flowing, the bill is going to be a doozy. One of the people in our group is a well-known national reporter and one of the people in our group starts lightly goading him into picking up the whole bill. This goes back and forth for awhile, to the point where we knew he wasn't going to pick up the tab, but we were just having fun with it.

Lynn stands up and says, "We need to cool it. We wouldn't want to do anything that would get him in trouble with (company)." She was mocking him like a world champ. This guy (great guy, but huge ego) looks directly at Lynn and says, "Get in trouble? Please..." and throws down his AmEx on the tab.

Reporter in question leaves and we all start high-fiving and hugging Lynn because this was a tab that most of us would have gotten into a bit of trouble trying to explain to our bosses.

Lynn says, "I just had to show you all how it's done..." Every time we saw her at events, it would be, "Hey Lynn, can you go get (reporter) to pay my bar tab?"

She sent me a nice email the day I lost my job. I don't think it was even a year later before I was sending her the identical note.

She was a riot. Everybody liked her. She was great at her job. She will be missed.

RIP.

 

[Colton]

Very sad. From just reading these few comments, it's easy to see why Lynn was beloved.

RIP.

 

[jmarshallap]

Was in Denver when Lynn was at the Rocky and was happy when she became our SLC sports writer.

She was a good reporter, a very nice person and someone who had gone through a lot over the past few years.

She will be missed by a lot of people.

 

[Cosmo]

I only knew Lynn through my occasional chats with her at Cardinals training camp years ago when she worked for the East Valley Tribune. Much like another big-paper reporter -- Steve Schoenfeld, RIP -- she always tried to help a young guy like myself who didn't know what the heck he was doing feel his way around. Enjoyed reading her stories too. Was very sad to hear this news. RIP, Lynn.

 

[Joe Williams]

Reporter in question leaves and we all start high-fiving and hugging Lynn because this was a tab that most of us would have gotten into a bit of trouble trying to explain to our bosses.

Great story, Mizzou. Did not know Lynn. RIP.

Unfortunate that in these trying times, many of us would get in hot water picking up the dinner tab for even one colleague, and forget about drinks. My most recent joint has been strictly no-meals-for-other-media-people and discourages filing for alcohol.

They'd be happy to free-ride on someone else's expense account, though. Which of course is how most writers have done it -- you get this one, I'll get the next -- but that doesn't fly nowadays.

 

[WildBillyCrazyCat]

This is terrible news.

Watching Lynn compete day in and day out with Adam Schefter at the Post might have been one of the last great newspaper wars.

One thing I admired about Lynn was that she never got consumed by the job the way many of us do. She always made time to get out and enjoy the outdoors. RIP Lynn. You will be missed.