Veteran journalist, Nikke Finke died on October 9, 2022, in Boca Raton, Florida, after a long illness. She was 68.
Finke was born to a Jewish family in 1953 and grew up in Sands Point, New York.
She then graduated from Wellesley College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper.
Following graduation, Finke worked in New York congressman Ed Koch’s Washington, D.C. office. According to Finke, she decided to become a reporter after seeing how Koch and his staff “would genuflect to journalists”.
Finke joined the Associated Press (AP) and covered Koch’s successful 1977 New York City mayoral campaign, and worked on the AP’s foreign desk at the New York City headquarters, Baltimore, Boston, Moscow, and London.
She then worked for The Dallas Morning News.
She founded and was the chief executive officer of Hollywood Dementia LLC and its website, HollywoodDementia.com, for showbiz short fiction.
Finke also was the founder, editor-in-chief, and president of Deadline Hollywood, a website with original content consisting of her and other veteran showbiz journalists’ reporting and commentary on the business of the entertainment industry. The website was formerly known as Deadline Hollywood Daily.
In December 2011, she was given the additional title of the editorial advisor of parent company Penske Media Corp.
She subsequently served as a consultant to Penske Business Media LLC and senior editorial contributor for PBM run by media owner Jay Penske.
Finke married Jeffrey W. Greenberg in 1980 but they divorced in 1982.
She is survived by a sister, Terry Finke Dreyfus; brother-in-law James Dreyfus; and nieces Sarah Greenhill and Diana Leighton.
Nikke Finke’s funeral arrangements are yet to be announced by the family.