Louis Martin Kohlmeier Jr. (February 17, 1926 – March 30, 2012) was an American author, journalist, and educator. He wrote for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' and later for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''-''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' Syndicate; still later, he taught at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

. He won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1965. His 1956 statement in ''The Wall Street Journal'' that "Elvis Presley today is a business" has been widely quoted as an observation about the changing face of the American

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

in mid-century.

Early life and education

Kohlmeier was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Louis Martin Kohlmeier and Anita (Werling). He received a B.A. in journalism from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

in 1950.

Career

Kohlmeier served in the Merchant Marine during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, from 1950 to 1952. He worked as a staff writer in the St. Louis and Chicago bureaus of the ''Wall Street Journal'' from 1952 to 1957. After a stint at the ''

St. Louis Globe-Democrat The ''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'' was originally a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1852 until 1986. When the trademark registration on the name expired, it was then used as an unrelated free historically themed paper. Orig ...

'' between 1958 and 1959, he returned in 1960 to the ''Wall Street Journal'' as a staff writer in the newspaper's Washington, D.C., bureau. He covered the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, the Department of Justice, and various

executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state. In poli ...

departments and regulatory agencies. In 1972, he left the ''Wall Street Journal''. In 1973 he began writing a Washington column for the ''Chicago Tribune''-''New York Daily News'' Syndicate. Beginning in 1977, he also served as Washington editor of ''Financier Magazine''. He later went on to become a professor at American University School of Communication.

Books

Kohlmeier wrote ''The Regulators: Watchdog Agencies and the Public Interest'' (1969), ''God Save This Honorable Court: The Supreme Court Crisis'' (1972), and ''Conflicts of Interest: State and local pension fund asset management: report to the Twentieth Century Fund Steering Committee on Conflicts of Interest in the Securities Markets'' (1976). He co-edited ''Reporting on Business and the Economy'' (1981) with Jon G. Udell and Laird B. Anderson.

Honors and awards

In 1959, Kohlmeier won the National Headliners Club award for national reporting for a series of ''Globe-Democrat'' articles about railroad problems. He received the 1964

Sigma Delta Chi Award The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in journalism. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital ...

for exceptional Washington correspondent for a series of articles on the growth of the personal fortunes of President

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

and his family. In 1965, he received the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in recognition of the same series. After Kohlmeier's disclosures about the Johnson family finances, Johnson released a detailed personal audit on August 19, 1964.

Personal life

Kolhmeier married Barbara Ann Wilson in 1958. They had two children, Daniel Kimbrell and Ann Werling. He died on March 30, 2012, in

Huntersville, North Carolina Huntersville is a large suburban town in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States. A part of the Charlotte metropolitan area, the population was 61,376 at the 2020 census, making Huntersville the 15th largest municipality in North Caroli ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohlmeier, Louis 1926 births 2012 deaths University of Missouri alumni Writers from St. Louis Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners United States Merchant Mariners of World War II United States Army personnel of the Korean War