Obituary: Ransdell Pierson

Originally from Alexandria, Louisiana, Ransdell was a reporter at the New York Post for ten years before joining Reuters in 1983. At the Post he broke the Leona and Harry Helmsley tax scandal story. His book, The Queen of Mean: The Unauthorized Biography of Leona Helmsley, published in 1989, was a New York Times Bestseller. The book was made into a television movie in 1990 in which Pierson had a brief cameo appearance. ■