Daniel Andrew Zegart

January 7, 1955 – May 27, 2024

Daniel Andrew Zegart, 69, of Lambertville NJ, passed away on May 27 after a long fight with pancreatic cancer.
Dan was born on January 7, 1955, to parents journalist and mystery novelist Patricia Sargent and documentary filmmaker Arthur Zegart in NYC. Named after Arthur's friend EB White, nicknamed "Andy", who was at his birth. Dan grew up in Nyack, NY, attended Nyack HS, and went on to study history at Wesleyan University.

After receiving his bachelor's degree he moved to New York City where he worked as a carpenter and a bicycle messenger before getting his first writing job at Energy User News. It was here that he began his long career as an investigative reporter, calling out bad actors and uncovering misdeeds of industry, politics, and public health.

Moving north, he was a reporter at The Evening Sun in Chenango, NY, and then onto the Newburgh Evening News where he broke the Tawana Brawley story in 1987, as well as numerous other award-winning articles that often impacted change on the local and state level.

After being on staff at The Trenton Times, he moved on to bigger things, writing for Ms. Magazine, The Nation, Reader's Digest, Salon, The New York Times, PBS Frontline, CBS Evening News and most notably authored two books, "Civil Warriors: The Legal Siege on the Tobacco Industry" and "Your Father's Voice: Letters for Emmy about the Life with Jeremy and Without Him after 9/11".

His expertise on the history of tobacco litigation led him to investigate evolving similar litigation around climate change, holding fossil fuel companies accountable. His most recent work as a senior investigator with the Climate Investigations Center led Dan to spend 19 months digging into the story of a carbon dioxide pipeline that ruptured near a small Mississippi town, sending 49 victims to the hospital resulting in his intense expose, "The Gassing of Satartia", written for the Huffington Post in August, 2021. The Post submitted it as their entry for a Pulitzer prize.

The story catalyzed and inspired a nationwide movement around the safety of these pipelines, along with additional media coverage, a record fine on the pipeline owner and proposed new regulations now being debated in Congress. Dan's research and knowledge informed citizens and activists working against carbon capture projects on the front lines who question the safety of the technology and the deadly risks it poses to communities nearby. The people of Satartia who were injured and the first responders who rescued them all deeply appreciated Dan's ongoing work to tell their story as he traveled with them to Iowa and Washington DC over the past few years. Over his career, Dan always centered the victims he spoke to and wrote about with compassion and grace, and as one close friend commented this week, he fought for those trampled and abused by corporations that make a living out of deceit and greed.

Never was Dan more proud than when his daughter Lana showed her own strengths as a writer as well her interest in his reporting, often working with him on stories he was investigating in recent years when his illness began taking a toll.

His other passion was playing the drums which he did professionally for a spell. If it weren't for his writing, Dan, would've immersed himself in playing music for anyone who would've listened.

Dan leaves behind Lana, 23, and his sister Caroline of West Haverstraw, NY, an artist and music teacher.

For those wanting to honor Dan's life and work, the Pipeline Safety Trust organization is accepting donations in his name to carry on the work on carbon dioxide pipeline hazards. Add Dan's name in your note if you choose to contribute. https://pstrust.org/donate/