Ralph Shawhan; Journalist, Publicist
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Ralph (Casey) Shawhan, whose career as a journalist involved nearly every newspaper in Los Angeles and whose work as a publicist touched both films and television, died over the weekend in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The former police and general assignment reporter for the Herald Express, the Examiner, the Mirror and the Los Angeles Times was 87 when he died Saturday.
He was the first city editor of the Mirror, which began in 1948 and ceased publication in 1962, the same year the Herald and the Examiner merged.
Over the years he moved back and forth from city rooms to publicity mills at both David O. Selznick and 20th Century Fox studios and most recently had worked as a publicist for NBC Television, retiring in 1967.
Shawhan attended USC, where he was a distance runner of some note who competed against the legendary Paavo Nurmi at the Coliseum in 1925.
Survivors include his wife of 64 years, Helen, a son, daughter and three grandsons.
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