Paul Dean, former Republic columnist who reported on Don Bolles murder, dead at 88

Paul Dean, a globetrotting journalist who spent 15 years as a reporter and columnist for The Arizona Republic, has died. He was 88.

Dean was among the first reporters sent to the Hotel Clarendon in June 1976, when word that a bomb detonated under the car of Republic reporter Don Bolles. An editor told Dean to aggressively stay on the story of the assassination of his friend and colleague.

Dean suffered a stroke after returning from a trip to Europe with his family, according to his wife, Penny Pfaelzer. On the trip, he visited France and the United Kingdom, where he was born.

Dean was born in 1934 and grew up in London during World War II. He worked for the United Press International in Canada before moving to Arizona in 1964.

In August 1965, Dean reported on a battalion of U.S. Marines in Vietnam, some of whom were from Arizona. In 1968, he took an Arizona flag to a Mesa soldier stationed in Antarctica. In 1978, he reported from Belfast on how an uneasy peace was returning to northern Ireland after 10 years of war.

Dean started a five-day a week column in May 1969.

On June 2, 1976, word reached The Republic newsroom that a vehicle belonging to one of the newspaper’s reporters had been blown up outside the Hotel Clarendon.

"Paul, get over here," the city editor Bob Early said. Dean scrambled between desks to get to Early, recalled an assistant editor in a 2019 interview. Early told Dean to “get on this” and “stay on this until you hear different.”

The next day’s edition of The Republic would have the interviews that Dean scrambled to get: The receptionist at the hotel’s front desk, who remembered Bolles taking a call there. A woman who lived in a nearby apartment, who rushed over with gauze pads. A man who used his belt as a tourniquet around Bolles' leg.

Dean, in a 2019 interview with The Republic, provided insight into the final years of Bolles’s life as part of a podcast based on recordings of interviews Bolles had made. The recordings had been locked in a filing cabinet. The tapes revealed how Bolles was incensed at the owners of a dog racing track whom he believed had wiretapped his home.

In later years, Bolles stopped writing about the racing industry and doing investigative reporting. He had been assigned to the Capitol.

It was unclear whether Bolles asked for that beat, or whether he was moved there to settle lawsuits filed by the dog track owners against the newspaper.

Dean described his friend in those years as a “lightly saddened” man.

“There were thems who say he wanted to go to the statehouse,” Dean said. “I don’t think he wanted to go there for a moment.”

Dean left The Republic in 1979 for a job with the Los Angeles Times.

His final column was published on Jan. 28, 1979. Its headline noted Dean’s count of his work: “A writer says goodbye – after 3,000 columns.”

Dean said his decision to move out of Phoenix was tough. “[Y]esterday until today has built a warm, full partnership with a newspaper to respect, a city to love and a state to worship,” he wrote.

Readers sent in letters expressing their admiration for his work.

“To say we will only miss him is an understatement,” a February 1979 letter from Bruce Daugherty of Phoenix read. “Over the years, through his columns, he has become a much loved and trusted friend, as close as a cherished relative.”

Dean is survived by his wife, Pfaelzer, son, P.J., daughters Robin and Lee, and in-laws and grandchildren. No public service has been planned.

Reach the reporter at richard.ruelas@arizonarepublic.com