Rites held in Los Angeles for veteran journalist Bill Lane, 73

Jet, July 17, 1995

Funeral services were held recently in Los Angeles for veteran journalist and businessman Bill Lane, 73, who died in Pasadena after a brief illness.

At the time of his death, Lane was heading the World News Syndicate which he founded more than 25 years ago. The agency fed news accounts to newspapers and magazines all over the world.

A native of Rosedale, MS, Lane migrated to Detroit in the 1940s. His natural flair for writing won him a post at the Michigan Chronicle newspaper. In the early 1950s, he was named an on-air personality at WJR radio in the city, becoming the first Black to hold such a job at the formerly all-White broadcast outlet.

He moved to the Los Angeles area circa 1960 where he worked in a number of positions, including his own record shop and as a private insurance adjuster, one of the first in the Los Angeles area.

Lane is survived by his wife Nancy; and seven children, Carol Evelyn McCoo, David, William, Philippa, Laurie Anne Williams, Linda Sue and Clayton.