Tim Traeger

Tim Karl Traeger, known to many as Tim and to some as Timmon or Timme, died on October 23, 2026, at PIH Health Rose House in Whittier, California. He was 62. Tim had endured a long battle with stage 4 tongue cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, and died from the effects of pneumonia and a weakened immune system brought on by the disease. In the final chapter of his life, he left this world in a place he deeply loved, a fitting farewell for a man whose name became closely woven into the life of Whittier.

Born on April 28, 1964, at Glendale Adventist Hospital in Glendale, California, Tim was the son of Rudolph Frank Traeger Jr. and Solveig Ronning Traeger. His parents, Midwest transplants who came to California in the 1930s, raised their family in Glendale and La Crescenta, where Tim’s roots were formed in a household that would remain central to him throughout his life.

Tim attended Crescenta Valley High School, graduating with the Class of 1982, and played on his school’s tennis team in his younger years. His path first bent toward medicine when he enrolled at UC Riverside, but calculus persuaded him that another calling awaited. That calling was journalism. At Glendale Community College, where he discovered journalism through El Vaquero, he worked and paid his own way through school. He completed an Associate of Arts degree from Glendale Community College in journalism around 1984, then went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Cal State Northridge in 1988, and finally earned a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership from the University of La Verne.

Journalism was not simply his profession; it was the craft and calling that shaped his life. His first job was as sports editor of the Burbank Leader, a beginning he proudly recalled, complete with Dodgers and then-L.A. Raiders credentials. He went on to work as a journalist and editor for the Burbank Leader, Glendale News Press, Foothill Leader, and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. He cut his journalistic teeth in newsrooms in Burbank, Glendale, West Covina, and South Lake Tahoe before joining the Los Angeles News Group, later the Southern California News Group.

Tim served as editor of the Tahoe Daily Tribune, Highlander Weekly, Star Weekly, and, beginning in 2007, the Whittier Daily News, where he succeeded the legendary Bill Bell upon Bell’s retirement. Under Tim’s leadership, the paper covered regional transportation, housing, and municipal elections, along with local angles on the Great Recession and national politics. In his own column, he wrote about service clubs, notable citizens of Quakertown, his beloved Dodgers, and the joy of giving tours of the newsroom on Greenleaf Avenue to Tiger Cubs and seniors alike. His byline also appeared in the Los Angeles Times. Most recently, he served as editor of Best of Whittier Community Quarterly.

He was widely known in Whittier for a “print-and-guts” style of journalism that spanned more than 30 years. He believed in reporting that was careful, vivid, and accountable. As his younger brother Tom said, Tim was “a true newsman,” devoted to editing, vetting sources, and making sure that what reached the page was accurate. Whatever he wrote, Tom said, drew readers in. Tim later reflected on the long line of Whittier Daily News editors who came before him, admitting he had felt the weight of the responsibility he had accepted. He wrote with characteristic humor that he had no wish to have anything named after him, joking that “Traeger” did not pair well with anything. Yet his life’s work was never about monuments. It was about telling stories, day after day, with purpose, compassion, and skill.

His work in the community extended beyond the newsroom. Tim also served as executive director of the Whittier Historical Society & Museum, another role that reflected his devotion to preserving and sharing the stories of a place and its people. Former Whittier Mayor Joe Vinatieri remembered how fully Tim embraced the city, its organizations, and its residents. Their collaboration included writing about the city’s fire department and even riding down Whittier Boulevard to a fire in Pico Rivera with lights and sirens blaring. They also shared time in the same Men’s Bible Study group at Plymouth Congregational Church.

Though journalism defined much of his public life, Tim’s work was broader than any single profession. Outside the newsroom, he worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District as a bus driver, for Utilimaster truck company as a dispatcher, and as a recruiter at Rio Hondo America’s Job Center of California. In every setting, he brought the same engagement with people and the same instinct to listen.

Tim was remembered as friendly, fun-loving, quick-witted, and kind, someone who could get along with just about anybody. He loved to tell anyone’s story through the lens of a journalist. Veteran photographer Keith Durflinger, who worked with him for decades, remembered a respectful friendship forged through the daily pressures of getting the paper out. Even when they disagreed, Durflinger said, Tim always wanted to protect people. Tom called him a staunch advocate of democracy and a defender of the First Amendment, a man who stood up for those who could not stand up for themselves.

He also lived with enthusiasm beyond the page. Tim enjoyed tennis in his younger years, riding motorcycles, and playing billiards, especially 9-ball. He loved classic rock music and traveling with family. Even after surgery left him unable to speak, he continued to post online, celebrating the accomplishments of his nieces and nephews and offering commentary on public life. He took special joy in attending his nieces’ and nephews’ sports games, school plays, and school concerts, showing up with the pride and attention that meant so much to those he loved.

In July, Tim and his brothers completed a road trip across the Midwest to trace the roots of the Traeger and Ronning family trees, attend a Cubs-Twins game at Wrigley Field, and visit the Barack Obama Presidential Library in Chicago. It was a journey of memory, family, and curiosity—fitting for a man who cared so deeply about where people came from and what stories shaped them. During his illness, he fought with determination for more than a year and a half, enduring chemotherapy and radiation that tested him severely. A few days before his death, he gave a thumbs-up when asked if he wanted to go to PIH Hospice House in Whittier, returning in the end to the community that had become so much a part of him.

Tim is survived by his sister, Judy Shafer of Hollywood; his brother Jon Traeger of Truckee; and his brothers Rudolph Traeger III and Tom Traeger, both of Monrovia; as well as six nieces and two nephews. He loved his family deeply, and that love showed itself in his steady interest in their lives, in shared travels, and in the happiness he found simply in being present for the people closest to him. His family will carry forward the memory of his wit, his loyalty, his convictions, and the generous attention he gave to others.

A memorial service will be held on November 6, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at White Emerson Mortuary, 13304 Philadelphia Street, Whittier, California.

Tim Traeger spent his life telling stories that mattered. He believed words should be honest, that communities deserved to see themselves clearly, and that ordinary lives were worthy of careful telling. In that work, and in the affection he inspired among family, friends, colleagues, and readers, he leaves a lasting mark.