As you likely know by now, we lost a giant in the field of investigative journalism last week, with the passing of Morton Mintz at the age of 103. A longtime investigative reporter at The Washington Post and the author of 10 books, Mort served as president of the Fund for Investigative Journalism’s Board of Directors for several years in the 1990s.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read his obituaries in The New York Times and The Washington Post. They share some highlights from Mort’s extraordinary career: He exposed the dangers of the drug thalidomide, which was given to pregnant women but caused deformities in children, and his reporting helped get it off the market, and he exposed General Motors’ shocking smear campaign against consumer advocate Ralph Nader.
Mort leaves a tremendous legacy — and he inspires us to support the next generation of great investigative reporters.
Mort’s family is asking people to contribute in his memory to the Fund for Investigative Journalism and Harvard’s Nieman Foundation. And now, one of our longtime donors has offered to match contributions to the Fund in Mort’s memory. This means your donation in Mort’s honor will effectively be doubled. If you give $250, we’ll get $500 — and those funds will continue Mort’s legacy by helping reporters pay for open-records fees, travel and other basic expenses for investigative reporting that has an impact.
Please click here to make a donation in Mort Mintz’s honor today.