Davan Maharaj named UTC Distinguished Alumnus

Davan Maharaj

Scott LeRoy

Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief and publisher of the Los Angeles Times Media Group, will be honored as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's 2016 Distinguished Alumnus during the annual Legends and Leaders Dinner on Friday, May 6, at the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club.

Also during the awards banquet, Scott LeRoy will receive the university's Outstanding Service Award.

Maharaj, a 26-year veteran of the Los Angeles Times, added publisher to his title in March 2016. He was named editor and executive vice president in 2011 after serving as managing editor for three years. Prior to that he was an assistant foreign editor, deputy business editor then business editor of the paper.

He currently oversees the largest daily news-gathering organization in the West. It includes the flagship Los Angeles Times and latimes.com; Times Community News, which consists of six suburban daily and weekly newspapers and websites, and the Spanish-language Hoy and Fin de Semana newspapers and websites.

The primary focus of the news operation is the Times' newsroom, which consists of staffers who work in Los Angeles as well as foreign and national bureaus. As the single largest property in the Tribune Publishing Co., the Times is responsible for providing foreign, national and Washington, D.C., reports for seven other newspapers and their websites, including the Chicago Tribune.

Maharaj received a bachelor's degree in political science from UTC in 1989. That summer he began working at the Times as an intern, then as a reporter in Orange County, Los Angeles and East Africa.

"Living on Pennies," a six-part series he wrote in collaboration with Times photographer Francine Orr, won the 2005 Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Writing. The series 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.

A native of Trinidad, Maharaj also holds a master's degree in law from Yale University.

LeRoy, an attorney with LeRoy Law Firm PLLC, has been active in UTC alumni organizations for several years. He is a trustee of the UC Foundation board, immediate past chairman of the Chancellor's Roundtable, former president of the UTC Alumni Board (2011-2013) and a former member of the UT Board of Governors.

Additionally, he has served on the boards of READ Chattanooga, St. Barnabus Nursing Home, Siskin Children's Institute and MidSouth Commercial Law Institute.

While a student at UTC, LeRoy was president of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, served on the Interfraternity Council and Student Orientation Board. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1979 and a law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1982.