Former Investigative Journalist Rick Guinness Dead at 52

Award-winning journalist Richard "Rick" Guinness died Saturday from injuries he sustanined in a bicycle accident several months ago, according to the New Britian Herald.

Guinness worked for many years for the Middletown Press, New Britain Herald, the Hartford Advocate and Manchester Journal Inquirer, also the Cambridge Day in Massachusetts in the 1990s and 2000s.

He also created a blog, the New Britain Advocate, and last posted on May 10, 2010. On it he wrote, "I wanted to create a newspaper that would feature stories about people and groups of people who are struggling — treating them with as much respect as the wealthy people and businesses who typically buy ads."

He's remembered as an old-style shoeleather journalist who followed crime, city hall, health care woes, politics, homelessness, drug treatment for addicts and corruption with equal aplomb — and never let his own health issues get in the way of a story.

He earned an equally notorious reputation, especially in New Britain, where his coverage of former Mayor Timothy Stewart was relentless.

According to his profile on writers.net, Guinness won first place in 2008 Society of Professional Journalists awards for best in-depth series about a Polish Imigrant who was wrongly deported. He also won a first and second place in 1999 SPJ awards for best in-depth reporting while at New Britain Herald.

The First Lutheran Church of the Reformation in New Britain will hold a memorial service. For information, call (860) 224-2475.