Charles Rappleye, a great Los Angeles-based reporter and acclaimed author who wrote about everything from Providence’s Brown family and slave trading to crooked cops, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 62.
Rappleye, the brother of WJAR political reporter Bill Rappleye, was known as a resolute investigative reporter who focused on those not usually featured in mainstream journalism. “He was especially interested in the telling the stories of the overlooked,” stated his obituary in the Los Angeles Times.
He was that rare writer who found inspiration in the obscure corners of American life and history. Yours truly had the grand good fortune to interview him and write a Providence Journal review of his book about the Brown family, entitled “Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade and the American Revolution.”
Rappleye also authored books about mob boss Johnny Roselli and Robert Morris, the financier of the American Revolution. He died after fighting cancer for six years, according to the LA Times. Our heart goes out to his family and especially to Bill, who truly loved his brother. RIP.
