Mike Penner

Penner was found dead in his Los Angeles home on November 28, 2009, of an apparent suicide. The coroner's report determined that he died of carbon monoxide poisoning after running a hose from his car's exhaust pipe into the car while it ran in his apartment building's subterranean garage.

Later in his career, in addition to covering sports, Penner began writing about transsexual identity and the process of gender transition from an autobiographical perspective. The first such piece he wrote for the Times was an essay entitled "Old Mike, New Christine", which appeared in the paper in April 2007. In it, he wrote about his lifelong struggle to come to terms with his transsexuality:

Penner wrote as Christine Daniels from July 2007 until about March 2008; without elaboration, he resumed using Mike Penner as his byline in October 2008.

Penner began his journalism career at the Anaheim Bulletin as a writer and sports editor. He then joined the Los Angeles Times in 1983 as a staff writer for the paper's Orange County edition. Initially reporting on high school sports, Penner went on to cover a variety of national and international sporting events, including the Olympics, Major League Baseball, tennis, and World Cup soccer.

Michael Daniel Penner (October 10, 1957 – November 27, 2009) was an American sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times. Penner self-identified as transsexual in a 2007 column; soon afterward he returned from a vacation writing with the name Christine Daniels. In 2008, he resumed his male identity and name, and in 2009, he died by suicide.