Mike Royko
| Mike Royko | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Michael Royko September 19, 1932 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | April 29, 1997 (aged 64) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Brain aneurysm |
| Resting place |
Acacia Park Cemetery Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Journalist • columnist |
| Years active | 1955−1997 |
 Mike Royko talks with Studs Terkel on WFMT ; 1969/02/26, Studs Terkel Radio Archive
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Michael "Mike" Royko (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997) was a Chicago newspaper columnist, winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Over his 30-year career, he wrote over 7,500 daily columns for three newspapers, the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune. Originally a humorist focused on life in Chicago, he authored a scathing negative biography of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1971. He was an outspoken liberal until the 1990s when he moved politically o the right.
Mike Royko grew up in Chicago, living in an apartment above a bar. His mother, Helen (née Zak), was Polish, and his father, Michael Royko, Ukrainian (born in Dolyna). He briefly attended Wright Junior College and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1952.
On becoming a columnist, he drew on experiences from his childhood. He began his newsman's career as a columnist in 1955 for The O'Hare News (Air Force base newspaper), the City News Bureau of Chicago and Lerner Newspapers' Lincoln-Belmont Booster before working at the Chicago Daily News as a reporter, becoming an irritant to the City's politicians with penetrating and skeptical questions and reports.
Reporter Mike Royko covered Cook County politics and government in a weekly political column, soon supplemented with a second, weekly column reporting about Chicago's folk music scene. The success of those columns earned him a daily column in 1964, writing about all topics for the Daily News, an afternoon newspaper. His column appeared five days a week until 1992, when he cut back to four days a week.Studs Terkel explained Royko's incredible productivity and longevity by simply saying, "He is possessed by a demon." In 1972, Royko received the Pulitzer Prize for commentary as a Daily News columnist.
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