NORMAN, Okla. —
Jerry Laizure, an award-winning news and sports photojournalist whose work was published in The Norman Transcript as well as in newspapers and magazines and on Websites worldwide, died Monday after a brief illness.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Goodrich Memorial United Methodist Church, 201 Hayes Street in Norman with Primrose Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
“He may have been short in stature but he was an absolute giant among the state’s working press,” said Andy Rieger, executive editor of The Transcript and a friend and co-worker since 1975. “He was an amazing man, a first-rate journalist and a great friend but I think he was a better husband, father and grandfather.”
Laizure, 59, had worked for Oklahoma newspapers since age 14 when he fibbed about his age and began working in Pawhuska. He worked at the Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise before moving to Norman to study journalism at the University of Oklahoma.
He began working in the production shop at The Oklahoma Daily while at OU. He left the university to work at PennWell in Tulsa, briefly working on the team that produced the Oil and Gas Journal. He returned to the newspaper business after four months.
“He missed the newspaper business,” his wife, Peggy, said. “He just loved the excitement of it all.”
The couple married in 1972 and have three children and 7 grandchildren.
Laizure was a recognizable figure to coaches, police and firefighters. He was often first on the scene of fires and accidents. At sporting events, he often wore a Christmas hat when the season warranted. His truck had a candy cane antennae, which helped identify him as a member of the press.
Laizure left the university in 1984 to be co-founder and co-publisher of the Cleveland County Record, a weekly newspaper in Noble. The Transcript purchased the newspaper in 1989 and retained Laizure as the newspaper’s editor.
He was The Transcript’s senior photographer at the time of his death. His photos have been honored with awards from the Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalist and Oklahoma Press Assocaition.
In addition to his wife, daughter Jennifer and sons Phillip and Jackson, Laizure is survived by three brothers and a sister. He was preceded in death by his parents, Cecil and Mary Laizure and a brother.
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Jerry Laizure
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Jerry Laizure / Photo by Steve Hill
Discussion
Veteran photojournalist Laizure dies
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