William Gaines, 82

William Gaines (right). Photo from Chicago Tribune.

VETERAN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER William Gaines died July 20 after suffering from Parkinson’s disease for 15 years. He was 82.

In 1976, he won his first Pulitzer Prize as an undercover partner of a team that revealed the abuse occurring in federal housing programs and the extremely poor state of service in two private hospitals in Chicago. He disguised himself as a janitor to gain information. He won his second Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

A graduate of Butler University with a degree in broadcasting, he was in the Army’s radio and television service in Germany for two years. Gaines also worked for broadcast networks in Michigan and Indiana before writing for the Chicago Tribune where he spent decades as an investigative reporter. He retired from the Tribune in 2001 (ChicagoTribune.com, “William Gaines, former Tribune investigative reporter, dies at 82,” July 20, 2016).

Gaines taught in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign until 2006, where he served as Knight Chair in Journalism (BostonGlobe.com, “William Gaines, 82, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter,” July 22, 2016).

He authored a textbook published in 1994 titled “Investigative Reporting for Print and Broadcast” which was widely used in different Journalism programs.

He is survived by his wife and children.