Frank Donze developed a reputation as a tough but fair reporter during almost 40 years covering New Orleans' colorful political scene for The Times-Picayune.

Frank Donze, a veteran reporter known for his tough but fair coverage of the city’s politicians during nearly four decades with The Times-Picayune, died Saturday. He was 64.

Donze’s byline was a conspicuous part of The Times-Picayune for 35 years, topping stories as routine as police blotter and as monumental as efforts to desegregate Carnival.

The 9th Ward native, who earned his journalism stripes as a Renaissance man at LSU’s Daily Reveille, covering music, books and sports, joined his hometown paper in 1977.

His early stories for The Times-Picayune’s St. Bernard bureau, where he was first based, kept tabs on the powerful Perez family. He would later move to the city desk, covering the police beat on the graveyard shift. That led to his most notable assignment and the one for which he will always be known: the City Hall beat.

Donze covered the administration of every New Orleans mayor from Ernest "Dutch" Morial to Mitch Landrieu, who described Donze as a tough but respectful reporter.

“He was always hard but always did his research to be honest and fair,” Landrieu said Saturday. “He was just an all-around great guy. The city was better because he worked here.”

Former Mayor Marc Morial remembered Donze, who also covered his father Dutch, in a similar way.

“He understood the nuances of New Orleans politics and government,” Morial said. “Frank Donze stood out as being a fair minded, objective reporter. He’d ding you, but you never thought he was out to get you.”

Donze’s Rolodex included everyone from the mayor to behind-the-scenes players who were often the real power at 1300 Perdido St. And more often than not, his phone rang with calls from them – not the other way around.

He and his beat partner, Coleman Warner, began the newspaper's popular Saturday feature known as the City Hall Notebook, a column of smaller tidbits from local government that might otherwise be tossed aside but were interesting and vital reading for readers.

“He was so New Orleans,” said WWL-TV political analyst and Gambit political columnist Clancy DuBos, Donze’s friend since their days at Holy Cross School. “In politics, he was what Buddy D. and Hap Glaudi were to sports."

His wife Beth said Donze’s proudest accomplishments included his coverage of the late City Councilwoman Dorothy Mae Taylor’s efforts to desegregate Carnival. His coverage often set the agenda for how competing media would cover the controversial issue.

And when former Gov. Edwin Edwards introduced riverboat gambling to the state, Donze’s editors tapped him to become a member of a team that covered the phenomenon.

While the public knew Donze for his government reporting, Picayune colleagues knew him as down-to-earth. In an industry where egos are often outsized, Donze always kept his in check, freely sharing phone numbers, sources, news tips and advice with everyone from the publisher to summer interns.

Michelle Krupa, who covered City Hall alongside Donze, first met him as an intern at the newspaper. She remembered him as a “humble, brilliant and patient.”

She also remembered marveling at his effortless writing -- always with only two or three fingers hunting and pecking at the keyboard.

“It’s like he would hug together all the facts and the context and the background of a story, and when it let go, it was that perfect first draft of history.

“He was a son of New Orleans and the dean of its political reporters,” Krupa said. “And you could never get him off the phone. ‘Just one more thing,’ he’d say.”

His desk, centered almost in the middle of the newsroom, was often a hub where people would gather to converse and discuss the news of the day.

“That was everybody’s first stop -- everybody’s,” said New Orleans Advocate columnist Stephanie Grace, who first teamed up with Donze to cover the 1996 U.S. Senate race for The Times-Picayune. “If he wasn’t there, you kind of felt like you weren’t starting your day. This was before Twitter. You’d stop at Frank’s desk to see what’s going on.”

“Frank taught so many of us how to not just observe events and ask questions, but to explore the humanity of those we were covering,” said New Orleans Advocate Managing Editor Martha Carr, who covered politics with Donze at The Times-Picayune. “He was passionate about journalism and loved the complexity of the human condition. But mostly, he was a masterful storyteller, who knew innately how to capture the nuances of this town and its people.”

And quite literally, the paper was also Donze’s family. His wife, whom he met at The Times-Picayune, is the daughter of the late sports columnist Peter Finney.

Donze continued to work at The Picayune until the summer of 2012 when the paper laid off hundreds of staffers. He was among that number.

Since then he served as communications director for the Audubon Nature Institute. Ron Forman, its director, said Donze was a perfect fit for the role.

“At first he was kind of taken back we’d recruit him. But we knew his ability to get the story out. He was the writer we wanted,” Forman said Saturday. “He really got into the side of the environment, conservation, wildlife.”

And even though he was no longer in the daily journalism field, he continued to be a valuable source for the city’s reporters and politicians.

“Everyone still called him,” Grace said.

Donze is survived by his wife, Beth Donze, and two daughters, Caroline and Victoria Donze; his mother, Angelina Donze Cardarella, of Mandeville; brothers, Dino Donze, of Mandeville, and David Donze, of Baton Rouge; and a sister, Lisa D. Jacob, of Mandeville.