William Raspberry (October 12, 1935 – July 17, 2012) was an American syndicated public affairs columnist. He was also the Knight Professor of the Practice of Communications and Journalism at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. An African American, he frequently wrote on racial issues. In 1999, Raspberry received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College.

Career

After earning a B.S. in history at the University of Indianapolis in 1958, Raspberry continued to work at the local weekly '' Indianapolis Recorder'' where he had begun in 1956, rising to associate managing editor. He was drafted and served as a U.S. Army public information officer from 1960–1962. The '' Washington Post'' hired him as a teletypist in 1962. Raspberry quickly rose in the ranks of the paper, becoming a columnist in 1966. Raspberry was a finalist for the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

in 1982, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1994. Raspberry supported

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 3 ...

, writing at least one column condemning gay-bashing.Archive Search for "William Raspberry" gay
archival list of William Raspberry's columns on gay issues at the Washington Post 1993-2005. He argued against certain torts and complaints from the disabled. '' Ragged Edge'', a disabled-rights publication, published complaints from letters to the editor that the ''Post'' did not print. Raspberry retired in December 2005. He provided the ''Washington Post'' a guest column on November 11, 2008, commenting on the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States.Raspberry, William
A Path Beyond Grievance
November 11, 2008, ''Washington Post.'' Accessed May 23, 2009. As of 2008, he was president of "Baby Steps", a parent training and empowerment program based in Okolona, Mississippi. Raspberry was an alumnus of Okolona College. He is the author of ''Looking Backward at Us'', a collection of his columns from the 1980s.

Death

Raspberry died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

on July 17, 2012, aged 76. He was buried at Rock Creek Cemetery.

References

External links

William Raspberry's column in ''The Washington Post''

Raspberry's Duke University Homepage

dated 2008/08/12 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raspberry, William 1935 births 2012 deaths African-American writers African-American journalists American columnists Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C. Deaths from prostate cancer Duke University faculty Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award recipients Pulitzer Prize for Commentary winners The Washington Post people People from Okolona, Mississippi Writers from Indiana Writers from Mississippi University of Indianapolis alumni Journalists from Mississippi Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people