Robert H. Giles, who oversaw Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage at two newspapers — including reports on the fatal shooting of four antiwar protesters by National Guard troops on the Kent State University campus in Ohio in 1970 — and later served as curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University for more than a decade, died on Aug. 7 in Traverse City, in northern Michigan.
The cause of his death, in a hospice facility, was complications of metastatic melanoma, said Ellen Tuttle, a spokeswoman for the Nieman Foundation.
A lifelong journalist and author and a former Nieman fellow himself, Mr. Giles (pronounced with a soft “G”) presided over the Nieman Foundation from 2000 to 2011.
He enhanced the prestigious foundation's primary mission: educating midcareer journalists.
He also presided over the online expansion of its quarterly magazine, Nieman Reports, as well as the Nieman Watchdog Project, which examines and supports public-interest journalism; the Nieman Journalism Lab, which helps prepare journalists for the digital future of the profession; and the Nieman Storyboard website, which promotes long-form narrative storytelling.
Persons:
Robert H, Giles, —, Ellen Tuttle
Organizations:
National Guard, Kent State University, Nieman Foundation, Journalism, Harvard University, Nieman, Nieman Journalism
Locations:
Ohio, Traverse City, Michigan