Carol J. Loomis

News Organizations and Titles:45 years at Fortune--member, Board of Editors, 1968 to present; associate editor, 1958-68; research associate, 1954-58; editor, in-house publications for Maytag Co., 1951-53.

Legacy: She is one of the best-known and most-respected business journalists in the profession. She is noted for her combined talents of hard-hitting reporting and creative writing.

Personal: Born June 25, 1929, in Marshfield, Mo.

Family: She and husband John R. Loomis, a banker, have two children, Barbara and Mark.

Awards:Gerald Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award, 1993; Loeb awards, 1974 and 1989; three John Hancock awards; a Newspaper Guild of New York Page One award; and a Hentz Award for Financial Journalism.

Education:University of Missouri School of Journalism, 1951. Attended Drury College, 1947-49.

What she has said about herself: "In 1962, we started our personal investing column, and I was asked if I would like to write for it, which was pretty unusual because researchers didn't move up to writer. I was the first one, as far as I know. It was kind of a signal that the barriers were breaking down."

Home run stories or accomplishments: As of 1997, Ms. Loomis had worked on every Fortune 500 issue. She spent two years writing her April 1998 cover story on Holocaust survivors.

What others have said about her: John W. Huey Jr. in Fortune: "Most great institutions have an exemplar, an individual who personifies just what's so great about them. Jazz had Duke Ellington; the '27 Yankees had Gehrig; Fortune has Carol Loomis."