Philip P. Kerby

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Philip P. Kerby (1911–1993) was an American editorial writer who worked for the Los Angeles Times from 1971 to 1985. He won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1976. With only a high school education, Kerby was regarded as self-educated and extremely bright. Otis Chandler, then publisher of the Times, told him, “You have raised the intellectual level of this newspaper.” Kerby’s specialty was criminal justice, government censorship, and secrecy.

Early life and education: He was born on December 24 in Pueblo, Colorado, and graduated from Centennial High School in 1931. He studied at Harvard University from 1957 to 1958 through a Ford Foundation grant.

Career: Kerby began as a reporter for the Pueblo Star-Journal-Chieftain and later became an editorial writer until 1942. He moved to radio in 1947 with KGHF. In 1948 he became editor of Rocky Mountain Life, then editor at Frontier Magazine, and then associate editor of The Nation. He joined the Los Angeles Times as a senior editorial writer in 1971.

Awards: He won the Denver Press Club Award as an outstanding radio journalist in 1947. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for articles against government secrecy and judicial censorship. He received the Public Service Award from the State Bar of California in 1983.