Lois J. Wille

Lois Wille (BSJ53, MSJ54) was a member of the inaugural class of the Medill Hall of Achievement in 1997.

Wille retired in 1991 as the editorial page editor of the Chicago Tribune.

She joined the Tribune in 1984 as an associate editorial page editor. Prior to that, she spent six years as editorial page editor at the Chicago Sun-Times and one year in the same position at the Chicago Daily News. Wille began her journalism career in 1957 at the Chicago Daily News, where she specialized in urban issues and state and local politics. By 1963, she had won the first of her two Pulitzer Prizes, the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, for a series of critical stories that called public attention to the issue of providing birth control services in the public health programs in its area.

In 1989, Wille won her second Pulitzer while at the Chicago Tribune for editorials on local issues. In the 1960s, she established herself as an influential voice in Chicago journalism. Her stories led to important changes in health care, housing, the juvenile court system and many other antiquated and corrupt institutions in Chicago. After 18 years as a reporter for the Daily News, she became the paper's national correspondent.

She received an honorary degree from Northwestern in 1990.

Wille died in 2019.