Associated Press
 
February 25, 2010
 
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Richard Bogle, a pioneering African American journalist and Portland city commissioner, died Thursday in a Vancouver, Wash., hospital.
 
His wife, Nola Bogle, says he died of congestive heart failure. He was 79.
 
Bogle was a Portland police officer before he became the Northwest's first African American television journalist when he joined Portland station KATU-TV in 1968. After 15 years at the station as a reporter and anchor, he was elected to Portland's City Council, serving as a commissioner for eight years.
 
Bogle was a jazz historian, writing for Down Beat magazine, volunteering at Portland radio station KMHD and until recently maintaining a blog on jazz. A celebration of his life is tentatively planned for March.