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Edward R. Cony
Edward R. Cony (March 15, 1923 – January 9, 2000) was an American journalist and newspaper executive who spent almost his entire career working for The Wall Street Journal or its parent company, Dow Jones. He won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1961.[1]
Edward R. Cony
January 9, 2000
(aged 76)Journalist
Wood industry, national reporting
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
1961
Gerald Loeb Award
1961
Ann, Daniel, Elizabeth, Katharine, Marilyn, Lauren
Early life and education[edit]
Cony was born in Augusta, Maine, the son of Daniel William Cony and Mary (Doyle) Cony. He attended Colby College and received a B.A. from Reed College,[1] where he majored in political science and wrote a thesis on the Fair Employment Practice Commission under Prof. Maure Goldschmidt.[2] He then earned an MA from Stanford University.[1]
Honors and awards[edit]
In 1961, he received the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for a series of articles about business ethics in the timber industry.[3] The prize board praised his analysis of a timber transaction between Georgia-Pacific Corporation and one of its directors, who was also the president of a major insurance company, saying that it had drawn attention to the issue of business ethics.[2]
He also won the Gerald Loeb Award in 1961, sharing it with several other Wall Street Journal reporters who had collaborated on a series entitled "New Millionaires."[6]
Personal life[edit]
Cony married Susan Wheat in 1954. They had six children, Ann, Daniel, Elizabeth, Katharine, Marilyn, and Lauren. He was a Roman Catholic[1] and "was known for not tolerating phonies."[5]
Praise[edit]
"Ed was extraordinarily intelligent, possessed of a wonderful wit, an easy sense of humor, and absolute integrity," wrote Barron's columnist Alan Abelson after Cony's death. "Pure and simple, he was the best newspaperman we've ever known, and, we're absolutely convinced, there never has been a better one, anywhere, ever." Walter Mintz, chairman of the Reed board of trustees, called Abelson's description of Cony "absolutely accurate. Ed was a dear and close friend, and his terrible illness was an enormous tragedy."[2]
Larry O'Donnell, also a former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, called Cony a mentor, saying: "Ed Cony had a profound and deep impact on his newsroom colleagues. Reporters wanted to work on stories with Ed — and learned much when they did." O'Donnell said that Cony, as managing editor, had "hired the paper’s first black newsroom staffers and pushed for a diverse newsroom throughout his career." O'Donnell added that Cony had "also put into writing the Journal’s conflict-of-interest policies — decades before other newspapers did." O'Donnell also recalled Cony's "great sense of humor."[5]