Anthony Lewis, an indefatigable champion of civil liberties who became known during his half-
century with the New York Times as one of the most trenchant legal journalists of his generation and was twice a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, died March 25 at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was two days shy of his 86th birthday.
He had complications from renal and heart failure, said his daughter Mia Lewis.
(Associated Press) - Anthony Lewis, shown in 1963 after he won the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Supreme Court.
By the time he retired in 2001, Mr. Lewis was widely recognized as the dean of liberal American columnists and had written a book that is regarded as the seminal account of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright.
As a Times columnist for 32 years, he wrote his most noted work on First Amendment rights and the American justice system. In a crowded field of columnists, many of whom were at times enticed to bloviate, Mr. Lewis distinguished himself with the consistent lucidity of his writing and his reportorial approach to the job.
He received his first Pulitzer for national reporting in 1955, at age 28, while working for the now-
defunct Washington Daily News. The award recognized his series of articles that cleared a Navy Department employee who was fired for alleged security risks during the Red Scare stoked by then-Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.).
“Mr. Lewis received the full support of his newspaper in championing an American citizen .
century with the New York Times as one of the most trenchant legal journalists of his generation and was twice a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, died March 25 at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was two days shy of his 86th birthday.
He had complications from renal and heart failure, said his daughter Mia Lewis.
(Associated Press) - Anthony Lewis, shown in 1963 after he won the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Supreme Court.
By the time he retired in 2001, Mr. Lewis was widely recognized as the dean of liberal American columnists and had written a book that is regarded as the seminal account of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright.
As a Times columnist for 32 years, he wrote his most noted work on First Amendment rights and the American justice system. In a crowded field of columnists, many of whom were at times enticed to bloviate, Mr. Lewis distinguished himself with the consistent lucidity of his writing and his reportorial approach to the job.
He received his first Pulitzer for national reporting in 1955, at age 28, while working for the now-
defunct Washington Daily News. The award recognized his series of articles that cleared a Navy Department employee who was fired for alleged security risks during the Red Scare stoked by then-Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.).
“Mr. Lewis received the full support of his newspaper in championing an American citizen .