Frank Lewis Peters Jr. (October 19, 1930 – September 14, 2007) was an American journalist. He won the 1972

Pulitzer Prize for Criticism The Pulitzer Prize for Criticism has been presented since 1970 to a newspaper writer in the United States who has demonstrated 'distinguished criticism'. Recipients of the award are chosen by an independent board and officially administered by C ...

Biography

Peters was born in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

, to Frank Lewis Peters Sr. and Mary Frissel. He graduated from

Drury College Drury University, formerly Drury College and originally Springfield College, is a private university in Springfield, Missouri. The university's mission statement describes itself as "church-related". It enrolls about 1,700 undergraduate and grad ...

in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He spent the next two years in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

(1951–1953), before attending graduate school at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

. Frank returned to his hometown in 1954 to serve the local radio stations

KWTO (AM) KWTO (560 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Springfield, Missouri. It is owned by Zimmer Midwest Communications and airs a Talk Radio format. The studios and offices are on East Chestnut Expressway in Springfield. KWTO is powered at ...

and

KGBX-FM KGBX-FM (105.9 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary format. Licensed to Nixa, Missouri, United States, the station serves the Springfield, Missouri, market. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and licensed as iHM Licen ...

as news writer and editor. He left Springfield for the ''

Arkansas Gazette The ''Arkansas Gazette'' was a newspaper in Little Rock, Arkansas, that was published from 1819 to 1991. It was known as the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi River. It was located from 1908 until its closing at the now historic Gazette ...

'' in 1957, and returned for the second time to join the ''

Springfield Leader & Press The ''Springfield News-Leader'' is the predominant newspaper for the city of Springfield, Missouri, and covers the Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the ...

'' in 1959. In 1962, Peters was named the managing editor of the '' Rome Daily American''. After two years, Peters left Italy to work for the ''

St. Louis Post Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, serving the Greater St. Louis, St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpass ...

''. He was named the publication's music critic in 1967 and became the arts editor in 1984, holding the position until his retirement in 1988. Peters died of a heart attack at St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis on September 17, 2007. He was 76. Peters was married to Alba Manciani, with whom he had two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Frank, Jr. 1930 births 2007 deaths Pulitzer Prize for Criticism winners Writers from Springfield, Missouri Drury University alumni Iowa State University alumni American expatriates in Italy St. Louis Post-Dispatch people United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of the Korean War