Retired Dallas Morning News reporter dies in car crash

DALLAS (AP) — Retired Dallas Morning News reporter Wayne Slater, who covered the rise of Texas governors Ann Richards and George W. Bush, has died in a car crash. He was 74.

Slater died Monday after his vehicle collided with a pickup, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Deon Cockrell said Tuesday. It happened near Florence, the city north of Austin where Slater lived.

Robert Mong, a former editor-in-chief at the Dallas Morning News, told the newspaper that Slater “was relentless in going after a story.”

“He broke a lot of stories because people trusted him and liked talking to him,” Mong said.

In a statement to the newspaper Monday, former president Bush called Slater “a hard-working and insightful reporter.”

Slater was born in Lubbock, Texas, and grew up in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He graduated from West Virginia University. From the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, Slater worked for The Associated Press in Charleston, West Virginia; Topeka, Kansas; Peoria, Illinois; and Denver.

But he is best remembered for his next stop: three decades in the Morning News’ Austin bureau, including as bureau chief. The newspaper reports that Slater retired in December 2014.

Slater also co-wrote two books about Bush adviser Karl Rove: “Bush’s Brain” and “The Architect.”