“Dave leaves a lasting legacy. He has written about the industry and labor relations for a generation and while we loved to argue with him, we considered him a part of the family,” David White, national executive director of SAG-AFTRA, told Variety. “Our hearts go out to his beloved wife, Sharon, and to his family. He will be greatly missed.”

Claudia Eller, Variety editor-in-chief, said McNary’s loss would be felt deeply throughout the company and in the industry.

“We are all grief-stricken by Dave’s passing,” Eller said. “Our newsroom will never be the same. There was no one as kind, compassionate, hard working and collegial as Dave. He was a very special person and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.”

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Dave McNary, the veteran film reporter who covered the industry for more than two decades at Variety and was a friend to many at Deadline, has died at 69. His wife, Sharon McNary, veteran journalist and KPCC-FM infrastructure correspondent, confirmed the news on Saturday morning.

McNary suffered a stroke on December 19 and was rushed to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, passing away from complications.

McNary started his long career at Variety in 1999, where he covered everything from the Guilds to various studios, including Warner Bros. Many of us at Deadline had the opportunity to work side by side with Dave over the years, including Ted Johnson, Anthony D’Alessandro, Mike Fleming, and Peter Bart, the long-time Editor-In-Chief at Variety, who hired McNary in 1999.

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By David Robb

When actor Robert Loggia died in 2015, his widow, Audrey Loggia, was notified by the SAG Health Plan that she was entitled to receive continuing health coverage as a surviving spouse “for the remainder of her lifetime or until she remarried.” But a class action lawsuit filed today against the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan and its trustees says that “before either of those circumstances appreciated, the Plan notified her on November 24, 2020, that she would lose coverage on September 30, 2021” under eligibility and benefit changes that take effect in the New Year.

Facing staggering deficits, the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan announced in August that it will be raising premiums and earnings thresholds for coverage on Jan. 1 in order to stay afloat. “While this restructuring will preserve access to an excellent health plan for the majority of our participants, the changes will be disruptive for some,” the Plan said in a letter to participants, noting that those who lose coverage because they don’t meet the new earnings requirements may be eligible for coverage under Obama Care. “Without restructuring the Health Plans, we are projecting a deficit of $141 million this year and $83 million in 2021, and by 2024 the Health Plan is projected to run out of reserves,” the letter stated.

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