Photo courtesy of Larry Evans (2010)

Larry (left) with son Darren and wife Karen. Larry founded the Northside Chronicle in 1985. As a lifelong journalist and activist, Larry always had an interesting story to tell and was working on a series of books about his life at the time of his death.

By Justin Criado

Northside Chronicle founder Larry “Leif” Evans passed away Saturday, Nov. 15 in a vehicle wreck in Bellevue around 7 p.m. He was 67 years old.

The Allegheny Medical Examiner’s office believes Evans may have suffered a “medical event” before rear-ending another vehicle at the intersection of Kendall Avenue and Ohio River Boulevard. He was taken to Allegheny General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:44 p.m.

Evans recently released a book titled Viking Women Don’t Care, Vol 1: Wrestlin’ With Baltimore, which highlighted his first 25 years growing up in Baltimore, Md. and was working on two more. Evans was a graduate of the University of Maryland, and after college worked for VISTA national service corps and spent several years working in a Florida migrant camp.

He also worked for an underground paper called Harry, covering music festivals in Louisiana and Pittsburgh, which led to Evans moving to the area and working for U.S. Steel.

In 1979, he founded the Mill Hunk Herald, a quarterly magazine written for steelworkers by steelworkers.
In 1985, he started the Northside Chronicle as a way to bring community members together and discuss progress and change within the neighborhoods.

He stepped away from the Chronicle in 1989, but stayed in touch throughout the years, writing his own recollection for the paper’s 25-year anniversary in 2010. An article also appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

A Mt. Lebanon native and lifelong activist, Evans was a member of the Mt. Lebanon Democratic Committee and Mt. Lebanon Village.

Evans is survived by his wife, Karen; son, Darren “Ducky” Evans of New York City; and a daughter, Jennifer Evans, a student at American University in Washington, D.C.; and a brother, Jeffrey, of Arnold, Md.

Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Larry (right) and then-wife Leslie Byrd Evans in 1981 with copies of the Mill Hunk Herald.