Myra MacPherson pictured in Michigan State University's 1955 yearbook editing photographs for The State News while working as feature editor for the publication. Photo courtesy of University Archives & Historical Collections.
Pioneer journalist, author and Michigan State University and State News alum, Myra MacPherson, died on Feb. 2, 2026, at 91.
During her over-20-year tenure at The Washington Post, MacPherson covered culture, politics and war — most notably exploring the psychological impact of the Vietnam War in her reporting and in her 1984 book "Long Time Passing", which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
MacPherson was born on May 31, 1934, in Marquette, Michigan, and grew up in Belleville. She balanced being editor-in-chief of her high school paper with writing a weekly column for a local paper. She then came to MSU where she worked on the yearbook staff, at the time called the "The Wolverine," and wrote for The State News, working as the night city editor and as a feature editor, according to the 1955 yearbook.
On her LinkedIn page, MacPherson wrote that “Work on the university daily newspaper prepared me for my career."
After graduating in 1956 with a bachelor's degree in journalism, MacPherson wanted to work at The Detroit Free Press to cover politics, a job traditionally filled by men.
In a 2014 interview with CSPAN, MacPherson said that when she told the Detroit Free Press’s editor that she wasn’t considering writing for the women’s desk, "he looked at me as if I had said I just shot my mother or something.”
“We have no women in the city room,” the editor told her, MacPherson said.
Still, MacPherson continued breaking gender barriers as she advanced her reporting.
When writing for The Detroit News in 1960, MacPherson covered the Indianapolis 500, where she said she was the only woman covering the race. She was forced to hold interviews through a chain-link fence after being denied entry to the race.
She ran into a similar problem covering the New York Mets in 1969, where she was denied the full access granted to her male colleagues.
On the national stage, MacPherson wrote for the Washington Star and then The New York Times. She was eventually selected by Ben Bradlee to write for The Washington Post where she would work from 1969 to 1991. She started in the paper’s Style section, then moved to cover politics.
When asked about the highlights of her career, MacPherson told Motley Fool in 2015, “The good, was working for Ben Bradlee, who gave women full force.”
At The Washington Post MacPherson covered five presidential campaigns, 1972 Equal Rights Amendment movement, Fidel Castro’s rule, veterans experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the Vietnam war among other social and political issues. MacPherson interviewed Ted Bundy’s mother, Louise Bundy, in 1989, marking the only time she spoke to the press.
In the 2014 CSPAN interview, while reflecting on the early days of her career, MacPherson said oftentimes men wouldn’t take her seriously until she proved she could stand her ground.
She married and divorced Morrie Siegel, a Washington sportswriter. In 1987, she married Jack D. Gordon, a liberal Democratic Florida state senator who she had met while covering the Equal Rights Amendment. Gordon died in 2005 after being hit by a car at the age of 83.
MacPherson published five books, including one profiling a woman battling breast cancer. 10 years after its publishing, MacPherson’s daughter, Leah Siegel, died of breast cancer. Siegel was a three-time Emmy winning ESPN producer.
MacPherson is survived by her son Michael Siegel and three grandchildren. The cause of death was congestive heart failure, the Washington Post reported.
“Now we see women covering everything, which is progress,” she told CSPAN in 2014.
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