KIRKPATRICK, Clayton 1915-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born January 8, 1915, in Waterman, IL; died of congestive heart failure June 19, 2004, in Glen Ellyn, IL. Journalist, editor, and author. Kirkpatrick is best remembered as the former editor of the Chicago Tribune who transformed the newspaper from a partisan publication to a more objective, professional, and reliable news source. With a B.A. in English from the University of Illinois, he left school in 1937 with the aim of becoming a writer. Feeling that he needed to gain some experience about the world in order to write about it, he decided to travel the country and work odd jobs, which included door-to-door salesman, meat packing plant worker, lumber camp mess hall worker, and announcer and radio actor at a station in Birmingham, Alabama; he also wrote a pamphlet for the Douglas Fir Plywood Association. Eventually deciding that he did not want to write novels, Kirkpatrick aspired to be a journalist. His first job came in 1937 with the City News Bureau in Chicago, where he was a police reporter. The next year, he tried to get a job with the Chicago Daily News, but there were no positions available, so he joined the Chicago Tribune. At the time, the Tribune was known as an opinionated, conservative paper that was run with an iron fist by Colonel Robert R. McCormick. Kirkpatrick spent the next twenty years there—with the exception of his years in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II—as a reporter before being made day city editor in 1958. Rising through the ranks, he was promoted to executive editor in 1967 and editor in 1969. By this time, journalism in America was changing and there was more of a demand for objective reporting. Kirkpatrick understood this evolution and proceeded to transform the Tribune into a modern newspaper, both in its writing and in its page design and layout. This change at first drew negative reactions from loyal Republican readers of the newspaper, who were especially shocked when Kirkpatrick published an editorial frankly condemning President Richard Nixon and calling for his resignation. The newspaper survived such protests, however, and soon gained the respect of readers across the country. Kirkpatrick, who also served as vice president, executive vice president, president, and chief executive officer of the Tribune Company during the 1960s and 1970s, retired in 1981. He was honored for his service with the prestigious Fourth Estate Award from the National Press Club in 1979.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, June 22, 2004, section 1, pp. 1, 5.

Los Angeles Times, June 23, 2004, p. B10.

New York Times, June 23, 2004, p. A22.

Washington Post, June 24, 2004, p. B6.