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Mike Royko
Michael Royko Jr. (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997) was an American newspaper columnist from Chicago, Illinois. Over his 42-year career, he wrote more than 7,500 daily columns for the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune. A humorist who focused on life in Chicago, he was the winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
Royko was born and grew up in Chicago, where he lived in an apartment above a bar. His mother, Helen (née Zak), was Polish, and his father, Michael Royko, was 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, Royko drew on experiences from his childhood. He began his newsman's career as a columnist in 1955 for The O'Hare News, a U.S. Air Force 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.
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.
When the Daily News closed, Royko worked for its allied morning newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1984, Rupert Murdoch, for whom Royko said he would never work, bought the Sun-Times. Royko commented "No self-respecting fish would want to be wrapped in a Murdoch paper," and that "his goal is not quality journalism. His goal is vast power for Rupert Murdoch, political power." Mike Royko then worked for the rival Chicago Tribune, a paper he had said he'd never work for and at which he never felt comfortable. For a period after the takeover, the Sun-Times reprinted Royko's columns, while new columns appeared in the Tribune.
Many of Royko's columns are collected in books. He also authored Boss, his unauthorized biography of Richard J. Daley, the 48th mayor of Chicago, and the father of Richard, William, and John P. Daley.
In 1976, a Royko column criticized the Chicago Police Department for providing an around-the-clock security detail for Frank Sinatra. Sinatra responded with a letter calling Royko a "pimp," and threatening to "punch [Royko] in the mouth" for speculating that he wore a toupée. Royko auctioned the letter, the proceeds going to the Salvation Army. The winner of the auction was Vie Carlson, mother of Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos. After appearing on Antiques Roadshow, Carlson consigned the letter to Freeman's, which auctioned it in 2010.
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Mike Royko
Michael Royko Jr. (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997) was an American newspaper columnist from Chicago, Illinois. Over his 42-year career, he wrote more than 7,500 daily columns for the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune. A humorist who focused on life in Chicago, he was the winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
Royko was born and grew up in Chicago, where he lived in an apartment above a bar. His mother, Helen (née Zak), was Polish, and his father, Michael Royko, was 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, Royko drew on experiences from his childhood. He began his newsman's career as a columnist in 1955 for The O'Hare News, a U.S. Air Force 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.
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.
When the Daily News closed, Royko worked for its allied morning newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1984, Rupert Murdoch, for whom Royko said he would never work, bought the Sun-Times. Royko commented "No self-respecting fish would want to be wrapped in a Murdoch paper," and that "his goal is not quality journalism. His goal is vast power for Rupert Murdoch, political power." Mike Royko then worked for the rival Chicago Tribune, a paper he had said he'd never work for and at which he never felt comfortable. For a period after the takeover, the Sun-Times reprinted Royko's columns, while new columns appeared in the Tribune.
Many of Royko's columns are collected in books. He also authored Boss, his unauthorized biography of Richard J. Daley, the 48th mayor of Chicago, and the father of Richard, William, and John P. Daley.
In 1976, a Royko column criticized the Chicago Police Department for providing an around-the-clock security detail for Frank Sinatra. Sinatra responded with a letter calling Royko a "pimp," and threatening to "punch [Royko] in the mouth" for speculating that he wore a toupée. Royko auctioned the letter, the proceeds going to the Salvation Army. The winner of the auction was Vie Carlson, mother of Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos. After appearing on Antiques Roadshow, Carlson consigned the letter to Freeman's, which auctioned it in 2010.