KAPOLEI, HAWAII — David Briscoe, a journalist who reported on events in the Philippines and the finances of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died at age 82 at an assisted living facility in Kapolei, Hawaii. He had been diagnosed with amyloidosis in April.
Briscoe was born David Chesley Briscoe on July 30, 1943, in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father worked as a union steward and his mother was a homemaker. Briscoe was raised in the church and attended the University of Utah, where he wrote for a student newspaper. He worked as a reporter for a Utah newspaper for two years before joining the Peace Corps. In the Peace Corps, he taught English in Paracale and Naga City, Philippines.
After his Peace Corps service, Briscoe worked for a local newspaper in the Philippines. He met Leonor Aureus, an editor at a rival newspaper, at an event where Ferdinand Marcos was scheduled to speak, and the two later married. Briscoe began working as a journalist in Manila in 1970, where he covered an earthquake, an assassination attempt on Pope Paul VI, and a plane hijacking.
Briscoe relocated to the U.S. for work in 1971 and spent nine years in Salt Lake City. During this time, he co-authored a three-part series with Bill Beecham examining the business interests and tithing of the church. The reporters estimated the church's business interests and tithing generated more than $1 billion annually. Briscoe opposed a church policy that excluded Black men from the priesthood and was disciplined by church leadership after discussing this exclusion in a class he taught. The church later removed the restriction on Black men holding the priesthood.
Briscoe became a bureau chief in Manila in 1980. He covered the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr., an event about which Briscoe said, "I expect to witness or cover no greater event in my life." He and his reporting team used various means of transport, including chartered planes, rented jeeps, and a horse-drawn cart, to report on events across the Philippines. Marcos later left the country, and Corazon Aquino became president.
Briscoe relocated to Washington in 1986 to cover international affairs. He served as bureau chief in Honolulu from 2001 until his retirement in 2009. His family plans to scatter his ashes in the Pacific Ocean. His wife, Leonor Briscoe, said, "The land that David learned to love, and where he met the love of his life."