Dennis Roddy (born 1954 in

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is the largest city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, it is the principal city of the Metropolitan statistical area ...

) is an American journalist who was special assistant to former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, and a former columnist for the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...

''.

Education

A native of Johnstown, Roddy was born the 4th of 5 children to an

Irish American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...

family. His father, Robert Roddy Sr., was a steelworker and negotiator for the United Steelworkers of America. He attended St. Benedict's parochial school in Geistown, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. As a student, he took a part-time job as a newswriter at WJAC-TV and later the ''Nanty Glo Journal'' and the ''Portage Dispatch.''

Career

Following graduation, Roddy accepted a position at the '' Tribune-Review'' in

Greensburg, Pennsylvania Greensburg is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The population was 14,976 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located southeast of Pittsburgh, Greensburg is a part of the Greater Pittsbu ...

, a position he held for 8 years before joining the ''

Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'', formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'', was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for over a century, from 1884 to 1992. At the height of its popul ...

'' as a political reporter. In 1992, the financially ailing paper was purchased by the ''

'' and Roddy joined its staff. In 1996, the Scripps Howard News Service began syndicating his political column across a dozen newspapers across the country. An August 1998 profile of Roddy in ''

Pittsburgh City Paper The ''Pittsburgh City Paper'' is Pittsburgh's leading alternative weekly newspaper which focuses on local news, opinion, and arts and entertainment. It bought out ''In Pittsburgh Weekly'' in 2001. As of April 2015, ''City Paper'' is the 14th ...

'' described him as having a knack for "getting into places other reporters find unobtainable -- the USAir jet crash site, President Clinton's limousine, a hotel elevator with presidential candidate Gary Hart and an attractive young woman." The article said that Roddy's "wit, his storytelling skills, his Irishness, infuse the paper. Readers -- whether they notice his name on top of stories or not -- gain their impression of what's going on around Pittsburgh, what's amusing and what's tragic about it, from Roddy. Many of the stories he tells linger in the mind a long time." His notable articles have included a profile of Jerry Bowyer, Joe Waldholtz's financial crimes, and a powerful article describing an 8-year-old's testimony in a rape trial. In 1994, his award-winning article ''The Messenger Boys'' provided a first-hand account of an

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

bomb attack in Belfast that killed 10. The ''City Paper'' article noted that he has "gone further than most reporters would dare in writing about his own family life," including familial discord and his

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

upbringing. In September 2007, Roddy wrote an article about the impending divorce between Pittsburgh billionaire newspaper publisher

Richard Mellon Scaife Richard Mellon Scaife (; July 3, 1932 – July 4, 2014) was an American billionaire, a principal heir to the Mellon family, Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune, and the owner and publisher of the ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review''. In 2005 ...

and his wife Margaret Ritchie Battle Scaife. The reporting in the article was supported by documents that Roddy obtained from documents inadvertently published on the internet by the Allegheny County Family Court. Scaife's suit and criminal complaints against Roddy were thrown out of court.

Other writings and awards

Roddy wrote the

foreword A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between th ...

to the book ''Pennsylvania 24/7'' by Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohen. His work has been cited in ''A Force Upon the Plain'' by Kenneth S. Stern, '' The Hunting of the President'' by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons, and ''Blood and Politics'' by Leonard Zeskind. In 2000, he was named "top columnist in the nation" by the Scripps Howard Foundation and he was named "top humor columnist" by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the three times by the Western Pennsylvania Press Club. In 2004, he received an "Honorable Mention" Keystone Press Award for his column from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. In 2005, he was named one of "Pennsylvania's Most Influential Reporters" by the Pennsylvania political news website PoliticsPA. In 2008, the political website PolitickerPA.com named him one of the "Most Powerful Political Reporters" in Pennsylvania.

Personal life

Roddy lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Joyce Gannon. They have two children. Roddy also has two older children from a previous marriage.

References

External links

Roddy's columns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roddy, Dennis Living people 1954 births People from Johnstown, Pennsylvania People from Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown alumni American newspaper reporters and correspondents Political journalists from Pennsylvania American people of Irish descent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette people Catholics from Pennsylvania