SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Russell Wayne Stockton, former editor of the Lompoc Record and an award-winning TV news director who was born in Hawai'i, has died. He was 64.

Stockton died of cancer Tuesday at Marian Medical Center West in Santa Maria, according to the Santa Maria Times, a sister paper. He was diagnosed with colon cancer last year.

Known as "Russ," Stockton was editor at the paper from 2000 until retiring in 2005.

"Russ was a traditional, hard-nosed newsman who was deeply committed to the communities he covered," said Tom Bolton, executive editor of the Lompoc Record. "His passing will be deeply felt by many."

Stockton managed the news department at KVUE in Austin from 1978 to 1987.

Under his leadership, the station went from No. 3 in news ratings to No. 1. In 1986, the station swept The Associated Press awards in Corpus Christi.

Stockton moved to the Central Coast in the late 1980s to be near his parents.

He was news director at KCOY briefly and helped out at his sister's restaurant before starting a reporting job at the Record in 1998.

Stockton was born into a military family on April 23, 1943, in Hilo, Hawai'i, his Japanese mother's hometown.

His parents met in 1942 during World War II. His father, who was born in Beverly, N.J., was in the Army Air Corps, stationed at Kilauea Military Camp.

Stockton graduated from high school in Japan, then returned to Hawai'i to attend the University of Hawai'i.

He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and was trained in journalism at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, Ariz., where he worked at the base newspaper.

Stockton is survived by his parents, his sister, three nephews and his former wife.