William Woo

Who was William Woo?

William Franklin Woo was the first Chinese American to become editor of a major U.S. daily newspaper.

Woo was born in Shanghai to Kyatang Woo and American Elizabeth Hart, who met in the early '30s as graduate students at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. His parents divorced after World War II, and Woo and his mother moved to the United States in 1946 and settled in Kansas City, Missouri with her adoptive father.

Woo attended the University of Kansas and joined The Kansas City Times in 1957. From 1962 to 1996, Woo held a variety of posts at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, founded by Joseph Pulitzer. In 1986, Woo became the first chief editor of the paper who was not named Joseph Pulitzer. Joseph Pulitzer Jr., who had been Woo's mentor, died in 1995, and his half-brother, Michael Pulitzer, took over leadership of the company. In July 1996, Woo resigned under pressure to provide more bottom line- oriented leadership.

In September 1996, Woo became the Lorry I. Lokey visiting professor of professional journalism at Stanford University, a post he held until his death. Since 1999, he had also served as a visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong.