William Hawthorn Lynch

William Hawthorn Lynch, Sr., known as Bill Lynch (April 16, 1929 - February 15, 2004), was an American journalist who served as the first Inspector General of the U.S. state of Louisiana, a position which involves investigations into corruption, misuse of state property, and governmental inefficiency.
Background
Lynch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and reared, first, in New York City and then in rural Elizabeth in Allen Parish in South Louisiana. In 1951, he graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and then spent two years in the United States Marine Corps, in which he attained the rank of staff sergeant. In 1948, Lynch was a temporary sportswriter for Shreveport Times in Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana.
Journalist and inspector general
After his military service ended in 1953, Lynch returned to The Shreveport Times, where he became an assistant city editor and political reporter until 1965. At The Times, Lynch covered the 1959 saga of then Governor Earl Kemp Long, the relationship with stripper Blaze Starr, and Long's commitment to the state mental hospital in Mandeville in St. Tammany Parish. He established the Shreveport Times bureau in Baton Rouge, from which he did most of his newspaper investigative work. In 1965, he launched a 14-year association with the since defunct New Orleans States-Item. He covered the destructive Hurricane Betsy, which struck the Gulf Coast and New Orleans area in 1965.
Death and legacy
Lynch died in Baton Rouge at the age of seventy-four after hospitalization from complications related to heart disease. Upon his death, then Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco termed Lynch "one of our state's legendary journalists and a talented man of great character who helped make a stronger Louisiana. ... He relentlessly aimed his journalistic light into the dark places of Louisiana politics. ... As inspector general, he continued his crusade to clean up our political system by exposing wasteful spending and corruption. He leaves behind a legacy of integrity, devotion, and courage." Subsequent governors set their own priorities for the inspector general's office.
Lynch was twice honored by the Alliance for Good Government in New Orleans and by the New Orleans Press Club. Lynch's colleague Jack Wardlaw was inducted into the hall of fame a year earlier in 2004.
Lynch had two sons, Bill Lynch, Jr. (born 1962), of Baton Rouge and Jonathan D. Lynch (born 1968) of Flowery Branch, Georgia.

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