As editor of the Los Angeles Times Media Group from 2011-17, Davan Maharaj oversaw the largest daily newsgathering organization in the West.
His responsibilities included the flagship Los Angeles Times, the nation’s fifth-largest newspaper; latimes.com, the nation’s second-largest newspaper website; Times Community News, which consisted of six suburban daily and weekly newspapers and websites; and the Spanish-language Hoy and Fin de Semana newspapers and websites.
Maharaj was named editor in December 2011 and was let go during an organizational restructuring in August 2017 along with other senior leaders. He had been managing editor since May 2008, with oversight of the news departments. He was responsible for shaping coverage, deploying people and overseeing personnel decisions with the editor. Previously, Maharaj has worked as a reporter for The Times in Orange County, Los Angeles and East Africa. His six-part series “Living on Pennies,” in collaboration with Times photographer Francine Orr, won the 2005 Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Writing and inspired readers to donate tens of thousands of dollars to aid agencies working in Africa.
Closer to home, Maharaj’s investigative report about a Leisure World attorney who inherited millions of dollars in stock, land and other “gifts” from his clients led to changes in California probate law. Maharaj has been an assistant foreign editor and, in Business, served as a deputy editor before assuming leadership of the department. During Maharaj’s tenure, the Business section revamped its coverage to give greater emphasis to consumer issues. It also redesigned its Sunday section to focus on personal finances.
A native of Trinidad, Maharaj holds a political science degree from the University of Tennessee and a master’s degree in law from Yale University.
