Deadline founder Nikki Finke dies at 68 after a protracted sickness

Veteran journalist Nikki Finke, founding father of the leisure commerce website Deadline and in her heyday a columnist identified for juicy business scoops and Hollywood gossip, has died at age 68.

According to Deadline, the sharp-tongued reporter who skewered Hollywood with aptitude died Sunday morning in Boca Raton, Fla., after a protracted sickness.

Finke was revered and feared within the business for exposing secrets and techniques, first via her L.A. Weekly column, Deadline Hollywood, which she finally constructed into an internet site of its personal.