By: E&P Staff Mary Lou Forbes, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1959 for her reporting on Virginia's civil rights struggles and who was the Washington Times' commentary editor, has died at age 83.
Forbes died late Saturday at a hospital in Alexandria, Va., less than two weeks after collapsing and being diagnosed cancer, the Washington Times said. She was working at the paper until the day she was diagnosed.
In a six-decade career as reporter and opinion editor, Forbes was a pioneering woman journalist and a mentor to many, including Carl Bernstein, who would go on to fame as a Watergate reporter and Cal Thomas, the conservative commentator whose column debuted in Times 25 years ago when she was the opinion editor.
"The real thing about her was her imperturbable manner and her constant good nature. She could edit a story so fast and so deftly and a few minutes later your story would be better," Bernstein told the Times.
"Mary Lou was a journalistic giant, whose courage not only won her journalism's highest prize, but paved the way for the thousands of women who followed her into the profession," said John Solomon, executive editor of The Times. "For those of us who were blessed to work with her, we know another side of her: Her warmth, friendliness and mentoring spirit turned our newsroom into a home and every one of her colleagues into family members. We will sorely miss her."
Forbes became editor of the Times commentary page two years after the newspaper's founding in 1982.
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