Pulitzer Prize Winner Tom Shales of The Washington Post Dies from COVID-19

Photo byThe Washington Post

Thomas William Shales born on November 3, 1944 was an American writer and television critic. From 1977 to 2010, he worked as a television critic for The Washington Post, for which he was awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Additionally, he contributed a column to NewsPro, a trade newspaper owned by Crain Communications that covered television news.

In Elgin, Illinois, Shales graduated from Elgin High School in 1962. Before moving to American University in Washington, D.C., he attended Elgin Community College. There, he worked as the movie critic and editor-in-chief of The Eagle, the student newspaper, for the 1966–1967 academic year.

At the age of 18, Shales started working for radio station WRMN/WRMN-FM in Elgin as his first professional employment. He worked for the station as an announcer, writer, disc jockey, and reporter for local news on the AM and FM bands. Later on, he produced transmissions to the Far East for Voice of America.

In 1972, he began working as a writer for The Washington Post in the Style section. In July 1977, he was made chief television critic, and in June 1979, he was named TV editor. He left the Post as a staff writer in 2006 and took a contract, which he held until 2010, the year the newspaper fired him completely.

Photo byThe Washington Post

Shales' work at The Washington Post, which included covering the Robert Bork Supreme Court confirmation hearings, earned him the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

Shales frequently reviewed movies for Morning Edition on National Public Radio between 1998 and 1999. Following Gene Siskel's passing, he appeared as a guest co-host on Roger Ebert & the Movies twice. From 1991 to 1996, Shales served on the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors.

Shales published four books, two of which he co-wrote with James Andrew Miller. Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, written by Shales and Miller in 2002, explores the history of the sketch-comedy variety program and offers a behind-the-scenes peek at its cast and crew.

At the age of 79, Shales passed away in a Fairfax County, Virginia, hospital on January 13, 2024, from COVID-19 and renal failure.

Source:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Shales