PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) A former photo editor for the Los Angeles
Herald-Examiner died Thursday after he was attacked leaving work at a
Portland restaurant.
James Roark, 49, also a former Pulitzer Prize nominee, died at 5:38
p.m. in Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Medical Center, said Myrna Pinkerton, a
nursing supervisor.
He had been in the hospital's critical care unit with severe head
injuries suffered in the Sunday night assault.
Roark moved to Portland to become a professional cook after the
Herald-Examiner closed in 1989.
He had just left Poor Richard's Restaurant and was heading for a
light-rail station to ride downtown to the hotel where he lived when he was
attacked, his boss said.
``They apparently were holding him up for money but he probably didn't
have two dollars on him,'' said Hal Hulbert, owner and manager of Poor
Richard's.
Three young men and a young woman are suspected of the attack and a
second attack on a 19-year-old fast food worker at a nearby park about 30
minutes later, said Lt. C.W. Jensen, Portland police spokesman.
The four were being sought, Jensen said.
Police believe robbery was the motive.
``They were just basically sauntering by and just jumped him,'' Jensen
said.
Roark was nominated for a Pulitzer in 1976 for his photo of Chicago
Cubs centerfielder Rick Monday rescuing an American flag from two
protesters trying to burn it at Dodger Stadium.