Life
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist William Raspberry loses battle to cancer
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist., William Raspberry. PHOTO/Julia Ewan/AP
William Raspberry, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post and one of the most widely read black journalists of his generation, died Tuesday. He was 76.
Raspberry, who had prostate cancer, died at his home in Washington, his wife, Sondra Raspberry, told The Post. A Post spokeswoman confirmed his death.
(More: Black Men should get Facts on Prostate Cancer Screening)
Raspberry, who grew up in segregated Mississippi, wrote an opinion column for the Post for nearly 40 years, and more than 200 newspapers carried his column in syndication. He retired in 2005.
He won the Pulitzer for commentary in 1994, becoming the second black columnist to achieve the honor.
His winning columns covered topics including urban violence, the legacies of civil rights leaders and female genital mutilation in Africa.
Raspberry started at The Post in 1962 as a teletype operator and began working as a reporter within months. In 1965, he covered the riots in the Watts section of Los Angeles, and he began writing a column on local matters a year later.
At the time, the only nationally syndicated black columnist in the mainstream media was Carl Rowan. Raspberry’s column moved to The Post’s op-ed page in 1970.
