{{Short description|American newspaper publisher}} {{Infobox person | name = Ralph Pulitzer | image = Ralph Pulitzer.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1879|06|11}} | birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | death_date = {{dda|1939|06|14|1879|06|11}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | resting_place = Woodlawn Cemetery | alma_mater = Harvard University | occupation = Publisher | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Frederica Vanderbilt Webb|October 14, 1905|1924|reason=div}} * {{marriage|Margaret Leech|1928}} }} | children = 3 | parents = Joseph Pulitzer<br/>Katherine Davis Pulitzer | relatives = }} '''Ralph Pulitzer''' (June 11, 1879 – June 14, 1939) was an American heir, newspaper publisher and author. He served as the president of the Press Publishing Co., which published the ''New York World'' and the ''Evening World''.
==Early life== Ralph Pulitzer was born on June 11, 1879, in St. Louis, Missouri.<ref name="nytimesobit">{{cite news|title=Ralph Pulitzer, 60, Dies In Hospital. Eldest Son of the Founder of The New York World Has Operation on May 1. Funeral Here Tomorrow. Ex-Publisher, Big-Game Hunter and Poet Ran Papers After Father's Death|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/files/ralphpulitzerobit.pdf|accessdate=July 21, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=June 15, 1939}}</ref> He was the son of Katherine "Kate" (née Davis) Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, the newspaper magnate.<ref name="shamokinobit">{{cite news|title=Prominent N. Y. Publisher Dies. Ralph Pulitzer Expires After Undergoing Abdominal Operation|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/72486994/?terms=%22Ralph%2BPulitzer%22|accessdate=July 21, 2016|work=Shamokin News-Dispatch|location=Shamokin, Pennsylvania|page=5|date=June 15, 1939|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}</ref> His mother was rumored to be a distant relative of Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederate States of America.<ref>[https://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/2013/06/19/wedding-announcement-joseph-pulitzer-and-kate-davis WETA: "A Wedding Announcement: Joseph Pulitzer and Kate Davis" by Mark Jones] June 19, 2013 | ''They were married at the Church of the Epiphany, by the Rev. J.H. Chew, rector of St. Alban's, Georgetown''</ref>
Pulitzer was educated at St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University.<ref name="shamokinobit"/>
==Career== Pulitzer served as the publisher of the ''New York World'' until 1931, when it was acquired by E. W. Scripps Company.<ref name="shamokinobit"/> He subsequently served as the vice president of the Pulitzer Publishing Company, which published the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch''.<ref name="nytimesobit"/>
Pulitzer was the author of two books. His first book, entitled ''New York Society on Parade'', was published in 1910.<ref name="shamokinobit"/> His second book, entitled ''Over the Front in an Aeroplane and scenes inside the French and Flemish Trenches'', was published in 1915; it was about World War I.<ref name="shamokinobit"/> His book contains descriptions of life in the trenches and the artillery used by the French in the early months of the War. It also includes sixteen photographs taken during his tour of several locations on the Front.<ref>[http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/IGI/individual_record.asp?recid=100454727362&lds=1®ion=11&frompage=99 International Genealogical Index]</ref>
Pulitzer was an active supporter of the National Air Races. He sponsored the Pulitzer Trophy Race to encourage higher speed in landplanes. He was also a big-game hunter.<ref name="nytimesobit"/>
==Personal life and death== Pulitzer was married twice. On October 14, 1905, he married Frederica Vanderbilt Webb (1882–1949),<ref name="shamokinobit"/> the daughter of Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb and William Seward Webb.<ref name="1905Wedding">{{cite news |title=PULITZER-WEBB WEDDING. Ceremony at Country Church — 600 Guests at Reception. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/10/15/119120788.pdf |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=October 15, 1905}}</ref> Before their divorce in Paris, France in 1924, they were the parents of two sons:<ref name="1924Divorce">{{cite news |title=MRS. PULITZER GETS A DIVORCE IN PARIS French Court Applies Law of Vermont, Where Marriage Was Contracted. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/04/15/104248508.pdf |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=April 15, 1924}}</ref>
* Ralph Pulitzer Jr. (1906–1965), who married Bess Aspinwall.<ref name="RPJrObit1965">{{cite news |title=RALPH PULITZER JR., PUBLISHER'S SON, 59 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/09/16/96718615.pdf |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=September 16, 1965}}</ref> * Seward Webb Pulitzer (1911–1972),<ref name="SWPObit1972">{{cite news |title=Seward W. Pulitzer Dies in California |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35928481/obituary_for_seward_die_w_pulitzer/ |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=June 15, 1972 |language=en}}</ref> who married Billie Boldemann in March 1932.<ref name="1932Wedding">{{cite news |title=MISS BOLDEMANN TO MARRY TODAY; She Will Wed Seward Webb Pulitzer at Home of Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Barber. CEREMONY FOR RELATIVES Bridegroom-to-Be Is Grandson of the Late Joseph Pulitzer--Wedding Trip to Honolulu |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/03/23/100700321.pdf |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=March 23, 1932}}</ref>
Four months after their divorce, Frederica married Cyril Hamlen Jones,<ref name="1924Wedding">{{cite news |title=MRS. RALPH PULITZER TO WED SON'S TUTOR; Admits Engagement to Cyril Jones, 34, Who Saw Active Service in Crimea. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/06/29/101603993.pdf |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=29 June 1924}}</ref> later headmaster of Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, and the former tutor to Pulitzer's two sons during the winter of 1921 to 1922.<ref name="MrsJonesObit1949">{{cite news |title=Mrs. Cyril H. Jones, Vanderbilt Heir, 66 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/02/03/96612920.pdf |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=3 February 1949}}</ref> In 1928, Ralph Pulitzer married Vassar College graduate Margaret Kernochan Leech,<ref name="shamokinobit"/> who, after his death, received two Pulitzer Prizes for her own work.<ref name="MLP1974Obit"/> One of his daughters by his second marriage died of infantile paralysis, or poliomyelitis, in France before her first birthday.<ref name="The Pulitzer Prize archives">[http://www.pulitzer.org/files/ralphpulitzerobit.pdf The Pulitzer Prize archives]</ref> The other was:
* Susan Pulitzer (1932–1965),<ref>{{cite news |title=Deaths |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/06/30/106995899.pdf |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=June 30, 1965}}</ref> who married Sydney J. Freedberg in April 1954.<ref name="1954Wedding">{{cite news |title=SUSAN PULITZER IS MARRIED HERE Granddaughter of Publisher of World Wed to Sydney J. Freedberg of Wellesley |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/04/11/83328126.pdf |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=April 11, 1954}}</ref>
Pulitzer died during an abdominal operation on June 14, 1939, at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.<ref name="shamokinobit"/> His funeral was held at St. Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, in the Bronx.<ref name="The Pulitzer Prize archives"/> His widow died at her home, 812 Fifth Avenue, on February 24, 1974.<ref name="MLP1974Obit">{{cite news |title=Margaret Leech Pulitzer, Historian, Is Dead at 80 Second Award Collaborated on Play |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/02/25/91435015.pdf |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=February 25, 1974}}</ref>
==Works== *{{cite book|last1=Pulitzer|first1=Ralph|title=New York Society on Parade|date=1910|publisher=Harper & Bros|location=New York|oclc=2880641}} *{{cite book|last1=Pulitzer|first1=Ralph|title=Over the Front in an Aeroplane, and Scenes inside the French and Flemish Trenches|date=1915|publisher=Harper & Bros|location=New York|oclc=1635679}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{commons category-inline}} * {{Gutenberg author | id=42344| name=Ralph Pulitzer}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Ralph Pulitzer}} * {{find a Grave|46483858}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pulitzer, Ralph}} Category:1879 births Category:1939 deaths Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Category:Businesspeople from St. Louis Category:Businesspeople from New York City Category:St. Mark's School (Massachusetts) alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Ralph Category:American non-fiction writers Category:Writers from New York City Category:Writers from St. Louis