Overview
- The San Francisco Examiner said its president and owner died and did not provide precise details about when, where or why he died, and the paper said Reilly’s companies will maintain commitments to staff and community partners.
- Reilly built a national reputation as a political consultant who advised figures including Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and Richard Riordan and who ran for San Francisco mayor in 1999.
- After leaving active consulting he assembled a downtown real estate and hospitality portfolio that included the Merchants Exchange Building and the Julia Morgan Ballroom.
- He expanded into local publishing with the Nob Hill Gazette and SF Weekly and bought the San Francisco Examiner in December 2020, returning the paper to broadsheet print and growing its digital work.
- Reilly’s public life included high-profile disputes such as a physical altercation with former Examiner editor Phil Bronstein and a legal fight over the Hearst-Chronicle deal, and his philanthropy included founding Bay Scholars; he is survived by his wife, Janet, and daughters Jill and Ava while memorial and succession plans have not been released.