TIME investigative reporters Don Bartlett (left) & Jim Steele (right) leaning on stacked papers in their office. Mother Jones illustration; Mario Ruiz/Getty

For more on Don Barlett’s impact on journalism—and on our work—read “What’s Missing From Investigative Reporting” from our CEO, Monika Bauerlein.

I met Don Barlett, who died last week at 88, in early January 1980. I had recently joined The Philadelphia Inquirer as a general assignment reporter, and my first big assignment was to write about the infamous, bombastic, and larger-than-life mayor of Philadelphia Frank Rizzo’s final days in office. When I asked the editor why me, since I had just come to Philadelphia a few weeks before and knew very little about Rizzo, I was told: “We want a fresh eye. And besides he hasn’t talked to an Inquirer reporter in months and he hates our guts. Good luck getting to him.”

Well, I did get to Rizzo and the story was stripped across the Sunday paper on January 6. The next day a short, bald, gnome-like man introduced himself to me in the newsroom. I noticed his staring eyes,........

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