Joseph Pulitzer II – 2009
Joseph Pulitzer II took the reigns of the Post-Dispatch in 1911 and ran it for the next 43 years. Under his oversight, the paper and its staffers acquired 11 Pulitzer Prizes. A perfectionist, he personally supervised every department of the paper, but his heart was in the editorial page. The Post was also a huge financial success. He eliminated competition from the Star-Times by purchasing the paper. When he turned 60, Pulitzer threw a huge party and invited all the paper’s employees – 1,152 people – and about 100 former employees.
He was proud to be an active newspaper man, and he once punched William Randolph Hearst for verbally attacking Joseph Pulitzer, Senior.