Mark SaylorMark Saylor, the Los Angeles Times editor who founded Saylor & Co. five years ago after exiting crisis specialist Sitrick and Company, died Feb. 22 of brain cancer. He was 58.

At the LAT, Saylor is remembered for overseeing a Pulitzer Prize-winning series about corruption in the entertainment industry.

The series reported on the return of payola to radio stations and fundraising activity by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences which raised a pittance for charity.

Saylor joined the LAT in 1985. He was assistant city editor, city editor of the now-shuttered, San Diego edition, California political editor and entertainment editor for the business section. He left the Times to produce technology trade shows before joining Sitrick.

Saylor, who was a nationally ranked chess master, is survived by his wife Nora Zamichow, a former LAT staff writer and three children. He received the diagnosis of inoperable brain cancer last spring.

Saylor Co. handled crisis work and foreign clients such as Screen Actors Guild, Executive Office of Dubai and Abkhazia/Ossetia, breakaway republics of Georgia.