The Tragic Real-Life Story Of The Pulitzer Family

The Pulitzers were once the leading media family in the United States. A legacy started by Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer, Pulitzer founded the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, operated the New York World, held political office, and established the well-renowned Pulitzer Prize. For generations, Joseph Pulitzer's descendants enjoyed the prestige of being one of the most prominent families in the U.S. 

Still, for all their fame and influence, the Pulitzers were not without their troubles. In more recent years, the family would be plagued by divorce, scandal, death, infighting, lawsuits, and business struggles. Not even the original scion himself, Joseph Pulitzer, would escape hardships involving his poor health and family members' premature deaths. And the Pulitzers would endure the hefty cost that fame brings a family in the spotlight — having their problems and personal issues broadcast to the world for all to see. This is the tragic real-life story of the Pulitzer family.

According to the Pulitzers' official website, Pulitzer did serve his time fighting on behalf of the Union Army in the American Civil War. Specifically, he was in the Lincoln Cavalry with many other German recruits (Pulitzer was fluent in German but not well-versed in English at the time). He was in the Cavalry for about a year before the war came to an end, and Pulitzer was honorably discharged. 

All the same, his early years in the United States were hard-going. After leaving the U.S. Army, Pulitzer was without money or a place to live. He often had to sleep on park benches and scrambled to find work. When he didn't have any luck finding steady work in New York, he decided to head west to St. Louis, Missouri. Pulitzer managed to catch a train to Illinois but ran out of money and couldn't afford a ferry across the Mississippi River. He ended up striking a deal to shovel coal on the ferry in exchange for passage.

Pulitzer continued to get odd jobs in St. Louis, but he finally got his first big career opportunity while studying English at the library. As noted by the The State Historical Society of Missouri, Pulitzer made the acquaintance of Carl Schurz, the co-editor and part-owner of the German newspaper The Westliche Post. Schurz was impressed with Pulitzer's intelligence and command of the German language and hired him as a reporter.

Joseph Pulitzer had struggled with poor eyesight since he was a young man, but after years of working 16-hour-long days, he was almost completely blind by age 43. He also had other health troubles that started in his youth and progressively became worse. As noted by Harper's Weekly, such ailments included diabetes, rheumatism, and asthma. According to The State Historical Society of Missouri, Pulitzer also became so highly sensitive to noise to the point where he had to soundproof his bedroom and his yacht completely.

However, despite his worsening health and his doctor's recommendations, Pulitzer hadn't been deterred from purchasing the almost bankrupt New York World newspaper in 1883. Even after moving to New York, Pulitzer still got elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York's 9th District. He never returned to the newsroom again, but he still managed to run the paper by communicating with his secretaries using code in case anyone seized his messages.

Herbert "Peter" Pulitzer was Joseph Pulitzer's grandson. He grew up fabulously wealthy thanks to his grandfather's legacy. Cocky, good-looking, and rich (he had his own business as the owner of a Florida orange grove and cattle), Peter earned himself a reputation as a ladies' man. But surprisingly enough, he fell hard for one Lillian McKim — 21 years old and from an equally wealthy Northeastern family. Peter and Lilly astonished all of their friends and family by suddenly eloping in 1952. According to W Magazine, the two had a fairly eccentric life, throwing huge parties and accumulating a massive menagerie of cats, dogs, monkeys, and a calf. Eventually, Lilly would be remembered best as the famous fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer, creating an entire beach and resort clothing line.

Their marriage, however, wouldn't last. In fact, their 1969 divorce came about as abruptly as the marriage itself had. Lilly had grown restless — and she'd just met Enrique Rousseau, who was working with Peter on building a hotel on the beach. According to Vanity Fair, Enrique and Lilly married quickly after her divorce, and Lilly would forever regard him as the love of her life — the two remained married until Enrique died in 1993.

There was no love lost between Roxanne Pulitzer and her ex's family. According to The Washington Post, Peter's daughter, Liza Leidy (his daughter with Lilly,) certainly didn't mince words after the divorce proceedings came to an end: "I just hope she feels as terrible as she made all of us feel the past year. It has been a nightmare. She is getting paid back for what she has done. She has been a real wretch about it. I hope she has suffered as much as we have."

Roxanne left her marriage to Peter Pulitzer with little money and struggled to make ends meet. First, she sold all the jewelry she took from her marriage — it was worth $60,000, but she only got one third of its value. Then, she had to borrow money from her mother just to get an apartment and found a job teaching aerobics. But Roxanne's two big paydays came first from doing a spread for Playboy and second from writing her tell-all book with the eyebrow-raising title, The Prize Pulitzer. Roxanne described all the tawdry aspects of her life and marriage to Peter Pulitzer with details of sex, drugs, and wild parties — none of it very flattering to Peter. 

To many, a tell-all book might seem to be a crass way to cash in, but it worked for Roxanne. According to the Los Angeles Times, her autobiography landed at number ten on The New York Times' nonfiction bestseller list in 1988.

In 1986, the Pulitzer media family became bitterly divided regarding control of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other media properties. Some family members wanted to sell the Dispatch and maximize their wealth, while others wanted to hold onto the properties and continue to pass them down to the next generation. When the family failed to come to an agreement on their own, they ended up in court — against each other. In a statement to The Washington Post, one Pulitzer family member, David Moore, who wanted to keep the newspaper in the family, expressed his regrets that the feud had turned into a court battle: "It is a very sad thing. This is not a happy time, I don't think, for any of us. There are not winners in a situation like this."

The family eventually reached a settlement and retained control of the Dispatch. It wouldn't be until 2005 that Pulitzer, Inc. would be sold (including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) to Lee Enterprises.

Known as "Jay" to everyone, Joseph Pulitzer IV died of a heart attack at age 65 in 2015. It was a shock to his family and all who knew him. As noted by The Washington Post, Jay was the great-grandchild of the first Joseph Pulitzer and the only child of Joseph Pulitzer Jr. (who is technically the third Joseph Pulitzer), owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. All his life, he was primed to take over the family media company one day. But this didn't end up being the case. Jay was certainly dedicated to the newspaper business, starting out as a reporter at the Dispatch, working his way up to correspondent, taking over as night city editor, and finally earning the corporate vice president position.

Unfortunately, Jay never did rise to take his place as the next reigning Joseph Pulitzer. After his father passed away in 1993, Jay's uncle, Michael Pulitzer, took over as head of the company, and majority control of the stock went to Jay's stepmother, Emily Pulitzer. Only two years later, Jay was forced out of the family business by the company's controlling family members. And it was in 2005 that the Pulitzers sold off their company to Lee Enterprises. Jay Pulitzer spent his retirement years in Big Horn, Wyoming.