Scott D. Pierce, a respected longtime television critic based in Salt Lake City who also served as President of the Television Critics Association from 2014 to 2015, died Friday of undisclosed causes. He was 64.
The news was made public by his partner, Rob Sonoda.
Pierce wrote television criticism for more than 30 years, beginning in 1990 at the Deseret News. He remained at that paper through 2010, when he was among employees affected by massive layoffs at the Mormon Church-owned paper. He was offered a job the next day at The Salt Lake Tribune; he remained at the Tribune until his death.
Pierce continued to write criticism at the Tribune but also wrote general features and expanded to reporting on crime and other matters when he was spared during layoffs at that paper.
”Scott was the Swiss Army knife of reporters, seemingly able to handle anything and in quick order,” Tribune reporter Julie Jag said.
“He was a friend to many of us,” Tribune executive editor Lauren Gustus said Friday. “He also welcomed the newest reporters, making an effort to find connections with folks who had recently joined us.”
Gustus celebrated Pierce as a journalist and writer who “had a conversational style that made him easy to read, and a willingness to take on anything journalism happened to throw his way on any given day.”
Pierce was a member of the Television Critics Association for decades, and attended the group’s biannual Los Angeles press tour every year. He served as the group’s president in 2014 through 2015.