Albert Lawrence Delugach (October 27, 1925 – January 4, 2015) was an American journalist. He won the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

in 1969 and the

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Awards, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was e ...

in 1984. He spent nearly 4 decades as a reporter. He spent the first half of his career working in Saint Louis, for ''

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

,'' the '' St. Louis Globe-Democrat,'' and the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democra ...

''. Delugach spent the last 20-years of his career with the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', retiring in 1989. He died of

mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The area most commonly affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lini ...

in January 2015 in

Los Feliz, Los Angeles Los Feliz (; Spanish for "The Féliz (family)", ) is a hillside neighborhood in the greater Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, abutting Hollywood and encompassing part of the Santa Monica Mountains. The neighborhood is named after the ...

. He was 89 years old.

Background and education

Delugach was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. In 1943, he left high school early, and enlisted in the Navy. After the war (

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

), he received his high school equivalency and then attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, majoring in journalism.

Career

Delugach began his career at ''The Kansas City Star'' in 1951, eventually leaving to work for the ''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'', where he and fellow reporter Denny Walsh, won the 1969

Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) * Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-pro ...

for exposing corruption within a

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

labor union. After spending three years investigating the Local 562 Steamfitters union, their reports led to multiple federal indictments involving kickbacks in sales of insurance and the union's pension fund. However, a new publisher, G. Duncan Bauman, refused to publish one of the key stories, about the federal government refusing to prosecute the kickbacks. Delugach's partner, Walsh, unhappy with the move, quit after leaking the story to a reporter at ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', causing the Justice Department to reverse its position, and prosecute the offenders. Delugach left the ''Globe-Democrat'' and wrote for the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' reporting on the oil boom, with William K. Want Jr., from Alaska. The 6-story series covered the oil companies, the decision to build the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline System The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 12 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one o ...

, an 800-mile pipeline, and the financial interests of Secretary of Interior (former governor of Alaska),

Wally Hickel Walter Joseph Hickel (August 18, 1919 – May 7, 2010) was an American businessman, real estate developer, and politician who served as the second governor of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and 1990 to 1994, as well as U.S. Secretary of the Interior ...

. Their stories were entered into the Congressional record in December, 1969. Delugach left the ''Post-Dispatch'' after just 18 months and went to work for the ''Los Angeles Times''. In 1984, he shared the Gerald Loeb Award for Spot News, with Ronald Soble, for their coverage of the death of gold trader Alan D. Saxon. Delugach retired from the ''Los Angeles Times'', in 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delugach, Al 1925 births 2015 deaths American newspaper reporters and correspondents Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting winners Gerald Loeb Award winners for Spot News The Kansas City Star people St. Louis Globe-Democrat people St. Louis Post-Dispatch people Los Angeles Times people