Archives West Finding Aid

Mary Ellen (Meg) Greenfield was born in Seattle on December 27, 1930 to parents Lewis James and Lorraine Nathan Greenfield. She attended the Bush School in Seattle before graduating from Smith College in 1952. The following year, she studied at Cambridge University as a Fulbright Scholar.

Greenfield began her career as a journalist at The Reporter magazine from 1957 to 1968. She then joined the editorial department at The Washington Post, where she began as a writer and was then promoted to deputy editor in 1969 and editor of the editorial page in 1979. She worked as the editor until her death in 1999. From 1974 to 1999, Greenfield also wrote a bi-weekly column for Newsweek. In 1978, Greenfield won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Much of her work focused on international affairs, civil rights, and the press.

Meg Greenfield died of cancer in Georgetown, Washington D.C., on May 13, 1999.

Source: https://classics.washington.edu/meg-greenfield-biography and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/may99/greenfield14.htm