Nikki Finke Obituary: How did Nikki Finke die?

Veteran journalist, Nikke Finke died on October 9, 2022, in Boca Raton, Florida, after a long illness. She was 68.

Finke was born to a Jewish family in 1953 and grew up in Sands Point, New York.

She then graduated from Wellesley College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper.

Following graduation, Finke worked in New York congressman Ed Koch’s Washington, D.C. office. According to Finke, she decided to become a reporter after seeing how Koch and his staff “would genuflect to journalists”.

Finke joined the Associated Press (AP) and covered Koch’s successful 1977 New York City mayoral campaign, and worked on the AP’s foreign desk at the New York City headquarters, Baltimore, Boston, Moscow, and London.

She then worked for The Dallas Morning News, Los Angeles Times, New York Observer, New York Magazine, et al.

Finke launched Deadline Hollywood Daily in March 2006 to report breaking entertainment news than her weekly newspaper column.

Following the purchase of Deadline Hollywood in 2009 by Penske’s PMC (then known as Mail.com Media Corporation), she was given the additional title of the editorial advisor of parent company Penske Media Corp in December 2011.

She subsequently served as a consultant to Penske Business Media LLC and senior editorial contributor for PBM run by media owner Jay Penske.

Nikki Finke had issues with PMC founder and chairman Penske, and then she left Deadline in 2013.

In 2015, Finke launched HollywoodDementia.com, a site dedicated to fictional tales about Hollywood. She entered into a first-look production deal with HBO for material from the site.

From 2011 to 2021, she served as a judge for the Mirror Awards competition, which celebrates excellence in media industry reporting.

Finke married Jeffrey W. Greenberg in 1980 but they divorced in 1982.

She is survived by a sister, Terry Finke Dreyfus; brother-in-law James Dreyfus; and nieces Sarah Greenhill and Diana Leighton.

Nikke Finke’s funeral arrangements are yet to be announced by the family.