William G. Serrin Jr. (March 16, 1939 – February 22, 2018) was an American journalist for the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' and ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. Born in

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

, Serrin graduated from

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

in 1961. He began working for

Booth Newspapers MLive Media Group, originally known as Booth Newspapers, or Booth Michigan, is a media group that produces newspapers in the state of Michigan. Founded by George Gough Booth with his two brothers, Booth Newspapers was sold to Advance Publicatio ...

in 1964, and joined the ''

'' staff two years later. In 1967, the ''Free Press'' won a

Pulitzer Prize for Local General or Spot News Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting is a Pulitzer Prize awarded for a distinguished example of breaking news, local reporting on news of the moment. It has been awarded since 1953 under several names: *From 1953 to 1963: Pulitzer Priz ...

for its coverage of the Detroit riot to which Serrin contributed. Serrin's reporting on the

Kent State shooting The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre and the Kent State massacre,"These would be the first of many probes into what soon became known as the Kent State Massacre. Like the Boston Massacre almost exactly two hundred years bef ...

of 1970 was honored with a

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the award ...

. In 1971, he shared

The Hillman Prize The Hillman Prize is a journalism award given out annually by The Sidney Hillman Foundation, named for noted American labor leader Sidney Hillman. It is given to "journalists, writers and public figures who pursue social justice and public polic ...

with

Carolyn See Carolyn See (née Laws; January 13, 1934 – July 13, 2016) was a professor emerita of English at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of ten books, including the memoir, ''Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America'', a ...

, Kenneth Lasson, Robert Coles, and Richard Todd. In 1973, Serrin published his first book, The Company and the Union, which detailed the relationship between General Motors and the United Auto Workers. Serrin worked for the ''

'' from 1979 to 1986, when he left to begin work on his second book. Prior to publication in 1993, ''Homestead: The Glory and Tragedy of An American Steel Town'' was reviewed by

Robert Reich Robert Bernard Reich (; born June 24, 1946) is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator. He worked in the administrations of President of the United States, Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and served as United S ...

in the ''New York Times'' and

Samuel G. Freedman Samuel G. Freedman is an American author and journalist and currently a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has authored six nonfiction books, including ''Who She Was: A Son's Search for His Mother's Life'', a ...

in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. Serrin later taught at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

School of Journalism. Upon retirement in 2014, he was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame. Serrin received an equivalent honor from his alma mater, Central Michigan University. Serrin died of a heart attack on February 22, 2018, at home in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

, aged 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Serrin, William 1939 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American journalists Detroit Free Press people The New York Times writers American male journalists Central Michigan University alumni New York University faculty People from Saginaw, Michigan