Oscar O'Neal Griffin Jr. (April 28, 1933 – November 23, 2011) was an American journalist.

Early life and education

Griffin was born in

Daisetta, Texas Daisetta is a city in Liberty County, Texas, United States. The population was 923 at the 2020 census. History The city was named after residents Daisy Barrett and Etta White.University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1958. In 1982, he completed Harvard Business School's

executive education Executive education (ExEd or Exec. Ed) refers to academic programs at graduate-level business schools for executives, business leaders and functional managers globally. These programs are generally non-credit and non-degree-granting, but sometim ...

program for Owner/President Management (OPM).

Career

Griffin was the editor of the Pecos ''Independent and Enterprise''. During his time here, he was a reporter and editor. Prior to that time, he served in the Army in the 1950s. After graduating from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, he worked at a number of small newspapers before his stint at the

Pecos, Texas Pecos ( ) is the largest city in and the county seat of Reeves County, Texas, United States. It is in the valley on the west bank of the Pecos River at the eastern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas and just so ...

''Independent and Enterprise''. In 1962, he began working for the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'', where he was responsible for covering the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Griffin was assistant director of Public Affairs for the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(1969-1974.) After coming back to Texas, he founded Griffin Well Service, an oil company in El Campo.

Awards and honors

Griffin won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting (No Edition Time), as editor at the ''Independent and Enterprise'', for directing its investigation of the fraud scandal involving Billie Sol Estes in 1962. (Third in a series)

Family

Griffin was married to the former Patricia Lamb for 56 years. Together they had three daughters and a son: Gwendolyn Pryor, Amanda Ward, Marguerite Horne, and Gregory Griffin. They also had seven grandchildren.

Death

Griffin died in

New Waverly, Texas New Waverly is a city in Walker County, Texas, United States. The population was 914 at the 2020 census. Geography New Waverly is located at (30.539226, –95.479862). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area o ...

where he lived, on November 23, 2011, at the age of 78, of cancer.

Publications

References

External links

* 1933 births 2011 deaths Editors of Texas newspapers Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting winners People from Liberty County, Texas University of Texas at Austin alumni Deaths from cancer in Texas Nixon administration personnel Journalists from Texas Businesspeople from Texas United States Army soldiers Military personnel from Texas 20th-century American journalists American male journalists People from Pecos, Texas People from New Waverly, Texas {{US-journalist-1930s-stub