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, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

in 1958. In 1982, he completed

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

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

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, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

, 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, 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 ...

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

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, 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''. ...

'', 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 a ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

(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, 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