Hills, Lee

▪ 2001

      American journalist and newspaper editor (b. May 28, 1906, near Granville, N.D.—d. Feb. 3, 2000, Miami Beach, Fla.), guided the Miami Herald and the Detroit Free Press to prominence and was a leading proponent of objective journalism. After working as a reporter for the Oklahoma City Times and the Oklahoma News, he became an editor for the Miami Herald in 1942. He led the newspaper to its first Pulitzer Prize in 1951. That same year he went to work at the Detroit Free Press, which, like the Herald, was owned by Knight Newspapers; for many years he served as executive editor of both papers. In 1956 his reports on labour negotiations between the United Automobile Workers and automakers earned him the Pulitzer Prize for spot news coverage. Later he was a driving force behind the 1974 merger of Knight Newspapers and Ridder Publications. He served as chairman of Knight Ridder from 1974 until his retirement in 1981.

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