Birth dates of Notable Kentuckians: September 25, 1919 – John Ed Pearce

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From The Kentucky Encyclopedia –
One of the most widely read writers in Kentucky in 1990, John Ed Pearce was born on September 25, 1919, in Norton, Virginia, to John Edward and Susan (Leslie) Pearce. He spent part of his boyhood in Kentucky and graduated from the University of Kentucky . Pearce served as a navy officer in World War II and in the reserve until 1977, retiring as a commander. He worked as editor of the Somerset Journal before joining the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1946. An editorial writer for twenty-five years, he is known to his fans as John Ed.

Admired as a newspaper columnist and an author, appreciated as a raconteur and historian, Pearce has attracted respect as a political pundit who wields a witty but caustic pen. He is a fixture at the Courier-Journal, where even after his retirement in 1986 he has continued to write his Sunday column. His column also appears regularly in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Pearce has won a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard, a Governor's Medallion for Public Service, a share in a Pulitzer Prize, and Headliner, Meeman, and American Bar Association awards. He was named outstanding Kentucky journalist by Sigma Delta Chi, and is a member of the University of Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. He is the author of Nothing Better on the Market (1970), The Colonel (1982), Seasons (1983), Divide and Dissent (1987), and The Ohio River (1989). He has served on the boards of the Kentucky state park system and the Filson Club, as chairman of the Kentucky Oral History Commission, and as an instructor for the National War College. Pearce has been married twice, to Jean McIntire and Virginia Rutledge, and has five daughters, Susan, Martha, Virginia, Elizabeth, and Alida.

JAMES S. POPE, JR. , Entry Author

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Pearce, John Ed, Terry L. Birdwhistell, and Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. John Ed Pearce Oral History Project. 1995.
OHJEP, Special Collections Research Center - Oral History Collection

Pearce, John Ed., John. Morgan, and Kentucky Educational Television. On the Ohio with John Ed Pearce. Lexington, Ky.: KET, 1987.
AV-V2993, Young Media Library

Pearce, John Ed. Memoirs : 50 Years at the Courier-Journal and Other Places. Louisville, KY: Sulgrave, 1997. Print.
PN4874.P33 M460 1997, Young Library - 4th Floor