Dale R. Wright, Ohio State alum (BA, School of Journalism, 1950), noted African American journalist, author, and Pulitzer Prize nominee, died in December. He was 86 years old. Wright was the first African American inducted into Ohio State’s chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, a national journalism fraternity.

Wright was born in 1923 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. He moved with his family to Canton, Ohio as a teenager, graduating from Canton’s McKinley High School. A World War II veteran, Wright was among the first group of African-Americans to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps. Wright enrolled in The Ohio State University’s School of Journalism in the late 1940’s and served as the news editor of the student newspaper, The Lantern.In 1949, Wright became the first African American to be admitted to Ohio State’s chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, a national professional journalism fraternity.

Wright was the first reporter to integrate the newsroom of the old Scripps Howard paper, the New York World-Telegram and Sun. His 10-article series in the early 1960’s on the plight of migrant workers from Long Island to Florida won the Newspaper Guild’s Heywood Hale Broun award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1962.

As associate editor of Ebony and Jet magazines, Wright planned, wrote and edited news stories and feature articles celebrating African American culture and history. Wright's awards included the Paul Tobenkin Memorial for best news writing in the U.S. on racial intolerance and bigotry, and the NAACP’s Award for Best News Writing.

Wright worked as a press secretary to former New York Mayor Edward Koch, the late Senator Jacob K. Javits and Governor Nelson Rockefeller. For more than 25 years, he owned and operated

Dale Wright Associates, a business specifically designed to serve the public relations needs of emerging and established New York area African American businesses.

Wright worked tirelessly as a member and leader of a host of civic and social organizations such as the National Association of Black Journalists, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, Sigma Delta Chi’s Society of Professional Journalists, the New York Reporters Association, the Newspaper Guild of New York, the New York Urban League, and the Coalition of 100 Black Men.

Wright’s family has established the Dale R. Wright, Sr. Memorial Fund to provide financial support for African American students with a passion for journalism.