News Organizations and Titles: 38 years with The Wall Street Journal--vice president, Dow Jones and Company, 1958-61; editor, 1941-58; managing editor, 1934-41; manager, Washington bureau, 1926-34; reporter, Washington bureau, 1923-26; manager, New York office, United Press International, 1921; manager, Washington bureau, United Press International, 1920; reporter, The Cleveland Leader, Cleveland Press and Scripps newspapers in Ohio, 1913-20; proofreader, Sandusky Register, 1913.
Legacy: Mr. Grimes, described by some as a curmudgeon with a contempt for public relations people, supervised The Wall Street Journal and wrote some of the paper's most famous editorials. He organized the paper's first copy desk, abandoned the afternoon edition and turned the morning paper into a three-edition publication.
Journalistic Progeny: Robert L. Bartley and numerous other editorial page editiors and writers.
Personal: Born March 7, 1892, in Bellevue, Ohio; died Jan. 14, 1972.
Family: Married Iva Mae McCormick in 1915; she died in 1967. They had three children, William H. Jr., Jane (Mrs. R. B. Benton) and John Allan.
Awards: Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, 1947; honorary degrees from Bowdoin College, New York University and Western Reserve University.
Education: A Attended Western Reserve University in Cleveland..
What he has said about himself or his publication: "On our editorial page, we make no pretense of walking down the middle of the road. Our comments and interpretations are made from a definite point of view. We believe in the individual, in his wisdom and his decency."
Home run stories or accomplishments:In 1947, he won The Wall Street Journal's first Pulitzer Prize for his editorial commentary focusing on business, the economy and labor.
What others have said about him: William F. Kerby in his book, "A Proud Profession, Memoirs of a Wall Street Journal Reporter, Editor, and Publisher," commenting on Mr. Grimes when he headed up the Washington bureau for both UPI and The Wall Street Journal: "If ever there was a reporter who knew where all the bodies were buried in Washington, it was Henry Grimes. Grimes had a reservoir of excellent sources, including Eugene Meyer, then chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and Andrew Mellon when he was secretary of the treasury. In addition to possessing great reportorial skills, Grimes could make a typewriter sing." The citation accompanying his honorary degree of doctor of commercial science awarded him by New York University in 1957: "A brilliant economist of incisive mentality, thoroughly addicted to old-fashioned honesty and common sense, master of the homey analogy, giving vent to sound intuitive opinion with fearless conviction, he has helped advance his paper from a parochial business bulletin to the foremost ranks of American journalism."