Dennis McDougal, noted reporter, and his wife die in Desert Center crash

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) - The family of former Los Angeles Times and Riverside Press Enterprise reporter and celebrity biographer Dennis McDougal and his wife Sharon McDougal were mourning their deaths today after both were fatally injured in a multi-vehicle crash in Desert Center earlier this month.

The four-vehicle crash was reported at about 4 p.m. March 21 on westbound Interstate 10 near Red Cloud Mine Road, according to the Riverside County coroner.

The couple were rushed to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, where they succumbed to their injuries. Dennis McDougal died the next day while Sharon McDougal died on March 24, according to the coroner's office.   

Born in Pasadena, Dennis McDougal worked for the Press Enterprise, the Long Beach Press-Telegram and the LA Times. He authored biographies of show business titans Lew Wasserman, Bob Dylan and Jack Nicholson, along with "Privileged Son,'' a critically acclaimed biography of former LA Times publisher Otis Chandler.   

Dennis' sister, Colleen McDougal, posted on Facebook that the couple was on an extended visit to California from their home in Tennessee to visit family, project partners and old friends when the accident occurred.   

According to his sister, the couple had successfully avoided crashing into the pile-up, but a car behind them didn't break on time and sandwiched them into the crash, causing major injuries.

"He and Sharon were in adjacent ER rooms, so that when they rolled Den past her door to an MRI test, he serenaded her with a sweet little made-up ditty about loving his little red-haired girl. He was remarkably lucid, joking and completely himself, never feeling the devastating physical pain his body was experiencing, due to a separated spinal cord at his neck level,'' Colleen McDougal shared.  

"Dennis was not only a dogged and brilliant reporter, but he was also unceasingly generous with his time and expertise,'' former LA Times reporter Steve Weinstein told the newspaper.  

McDougal is survived by his children -- Jennifer Dominguez, Kate Vokoun, Fitz Dearmore and Andrea Adkins -- and 15 grandchildren.