In Memoriam: Edwin Yoder, Professor of Journalism and Humanities Emeritus Yoder, a former Class of 1963 Scholar-in-Residence at W&L, won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1979.
Edwin M. Yoder Jr., Pulitzer Prize winner and Professor of Journalism and Humanities Emeritus at Washington and Lee University, died on Nov. 30, 2023, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He was 89.
Born on July 18, 1934, in Greensboro, North Carolina, Yoder decided to pursue journalism at the age of 16, after a summer job reporting and selling advertisements for a local newspaper. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he served as editor of the student newspaper and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1956. A Rhodes Scholar, he went on to study philosophy, politics and economics at Jesus College at the University of Oxford in England and received a master’s degree in 1958.
Yoder, known for his erudite editorials, began his career at The Charlotte News in 1958 as an editorial writer, then worked for the Greensboro Daily News starting in 1961 and The Washington Star in 1975. He took a yearlong sabbatical in 1964-65 to teach American history at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. He won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1979 and was praised by the prize committee for writing about “current national events with the confident understanding of the political specialist, the objectivity of the historian and with masterful literary grace.” Later, he became a syndicated columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group; he retired from regular column writing in 1996.
Yoder served as the first Class of 1963 Scholar-in-Residence at W&L, a program established through gifts from members of the Class of 1963 at their 25th reunion in 1988. He joined the faculty at W&L in 1992 and taught journalism and humanities courses for over a decade.
He received an honorary fellowship of Jesus College and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Yoder received UNC’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015.
He authored seven books throughout his life, including “Joe Alsop’s Cold War: A Study of Journalistic Influence and Intrigue,” “The Historical Present: Uses and Abuses of the Past” and “Telling Others What to Think: Recollections of a Pundit.” In retirement, he began writing fiction, including the novel “Lions at Lamb House,” which centered on an imagined encounter between Sigmund Freud and novelist Henry James.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Jane, in 2021. He is survived by daughter, Anne; son, Edwin “Terry” Yoder; and three grandsons.
Yoder’s full obituary was published in The Washington Post.
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