Rooney, Edmund J., 1924-2007.

Journalist and professor, Edmund Rooney was born June 21, 1924, in Chicago, IL. Rooney started in journalism at a young age, writing and selling a neighborhood newspaper before working on the school paper at St. Rita High School. Following high school he took classes at Loyola University prior to being drafted for World War II, where he took part in the invastion at Anzio. While in the service he was a writer/reporter for the Stars and Stripes in Rome. Following World War II Rooney worked for the Southtown Economist, the City News Bureau of Chicago, and the Chicago Daily News, where he remained for 26 years. In 1963 he began his career at Loyola University Chicago teaching journalism classes. He received his B.A. from Loyola in 1977, an M.A. in 1981, and an Ed. D., in 1992. In 1982 he established the National Center for Freedom of Information Studies at Loyola, a clearinghouse for those interested in 1st Amendment issues, one of his passions. In 1957 Rooney received a Pulitzer Prize for his paper's investigation into state auditor Orville Hodge, and in 1992 he was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame.