The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer; books: The Race Beat (with Hank Klibanoff), The Censors and the Schools (with Jack Nelson), Assignment America (with David Jones), Leaving Readers Behind (with Thomas Kunkel and Charles Layton), Breach of Faith (with Thomas Kunkel)
Leslie Roberts, Maggie Roberts, Elizabeth Roberts, Polly Roberts
Relatives
sister, Peggy Ellis; grandchildren, Emma Roberts Zevin; Wiley Roberts Guillot
Eugene Leslie Roberts Jr. (born June 15, 1932)[1] is an American journalist and professor of journalism. He has been a national editor of The New York Times, executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer from 1972 to 1990, and managing editor of The New York Times from 1994 to 1997. Roberts is most known for presiding over The Inquirer's "Golden Age",[2] a time in which the newspaper was given increased freedom and resources, won 17 Pulitzer Prizes in 18 years,[3] displaced The Philadelphia Bulletin as the city's "paper of record", and was considered to be Knight Ridder's crown jewel as a profitable enterprise and an influential regional paper.[4]
Career
Roberts was born in Pikeville[5] in the Goldsboro, North Carolina Metropolitan Area. He grew up in North Carolina and worked for newspapers in Goldsboro, N.C.; Norfolk, Va.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Detroit. He covered the Kennedy Assassination in Dallas for the Detroit Free Press and subsequently covered the Civil Rights Movement as a correspondent for The New York Times, where he also served as Saigon bureau chief in 1968 during the Vietnam War. After serving as national editor at The Times from 1969 to 1972, he was hired by John S. Knight to head The Inquirer. He retired in 1990 and returned to the Times as managing editor from 1994 to 1998.
Assignment America: A Collection of Outstanding Writing from the New York Times (Quadrangle, 1974; ISBN0812903846), eds. Roberts and David Jones
Leaving Readers Behind: the age of corporate newspapering (University of Arkansas Press, 2001; ISBN1557287716), editor-in-chief, with Thomas Kunkel and Charles Layton
Breach of Faith: a crisis of coverage in the age of corporate newspapering (University of Arkansas Press, 2002; ISBN1557287090), editor-in-chief, with Thomas Kunkel
^For birthdate and full name, Library of Congress Authorities cites Contemporary Authors, which may be derived from earlier LC CIP data.
^Shapiro, Michael (2007). "Heartbreak on Wheels: The Philadelphia Inquirer". In Charles M. Madigan (ed.). 30: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper (Hardback). Chicago: Ivan R. Lee. p. 156. ISBN978-1-56663-742-8.
^Cauchon, Dennis (August 1, 1990). "Roberts to leave 'Inquirer'". USA Today.
^Williams, Marjorie (August 1, 1990). "Philadelphia Inquirer's Top Editor Resigns". The Washington Post.
^Schultz, Will. "Gene Roberts (1932-)". NorthCarolinahistory.org: An Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2020-05-26.