William R. Stall (February 21, 1937 – November 2, 2008) was a reporter and staff member of theLos Angeles Times who was awarded thePulitzer Prize in 2004.
Stall was born on February 21, 1937, inPhiladelphia to parents Sidney J. and Helen R. Stall. He and his two siblings moved with his parents in 1942 toBig Horn, Wyoming, to operate a small ranch. Stall's father worked part-time at theSheridan Press, later owning a weekly newspaper.[1]
Stall majored in journalism at theUniversity of Wyoming and was sports editor, and later covered city-county government, forLaramie Daily Bulletin while still in college. He also attendedNorthwestern University andJohns Hopkins University, and served in the National Guard. He was hired by theAssociated Press inCheyenne, Wyoming, later working as the AP's Reno correspondent before a move to the agency'sSacramento, California, bureau, where he was bureau chief from 1966 to 1974.[1]
He served in the administration of GovernorJerry Brown as press secretary and director of public affairs in 1975 and 1976. He was hired in 1976 by TheLos Angeles Times reporting in the Metro section. He later covered energy policy and was assistant Metro editor before becoming a staff writer in the paper'sWashington, D.C., bureau. He took a position as Washington bureau chief for theHartford Courant.[1]
In 1980, he shared theGerald Loeb Award for Large Newspapers for his coverage of theU.S. energy crisis.[2][3]
Stall was awarded the 2004Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for a series of editorials written in October, November and December 2003 on California's troubled state government. The Reinventing California editorials included "How the Engine Derailed", "Primed for Fiscal Overhaul", "Yank the 'For Sale' Sign", "A Legislature at War" and concluded with "Seize the Political Moment".[4] The Pulitzer board noted that Stall's series of editorials "prescribed remedies and served as a model for addressing complex state issues."[1]
Stall was also proud of a 2001 series of editorials he wrote supporting Senate Bill 221, a measure submitted byState SenatorSheila Kuehl that would require real estate developers of projects with 500 or more units to demonstrate that the homes would have access to a long-term water supply. A lobbyist for theEast Bay Municipal Utility District said that Stall's editorials helped make the case for the legislation, overcoming opposition from the building industry. After ten years of unsuccessful efforts to pass such a bill, the proposal passed in the legislature and was signed into law byGovernorGray Davis, making California the first state in theWestern United States to enact such a law.[1]
Stall died of complications frompulmonary disease on November 2, 2008, at his home inSacramento, California. He had been in failing health much of the year.[1]