Interview: Madelyn Ross
Date of Interview: May 15, 2009
Place of Interview: Pittsburgh
Interviewer: Ford Risley
Biographical Summary
Madelyn Ross was born in Pittsburgh in 1949. She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania where she was editor of the student newspaper, The Penn. She earned a master’s degree at the State University of New York at Albany and then joined the staff of the Pittsburgh Press. She held a variety of posts at the Press, including reporter, copy editor and assistant city editor. She was named managing editor in 1983 and held that post until the Press closed in 1992 after an eight-month strike. She was named managing editor of the rival Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the same year and held the position until 2005. She was appointed associate vice chancellor for national media relations and university marketing communications at the University of Pittsburgh, a post she still holds today.
Interview Highlights
Ross speaks about her family; about working as editor of her newspapers in high school and college; about the various positions she held at the Pittsburgh Press; about being one of the first female managing editors of a major American daily newspaper; about helping to edit the two Pulitzer Prize-winning series won by the Press; about the strike at the Press and Post-Gazette and the closing of the Press; about serving as managing editor of the Post-Gazette; and about being associate vice chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh.