Morgan, Neil, 1924-

San Diego (Calif.) columnist, editor, and writer, Neil Bowen Morgan was born in Smithfield, North Carolina, in 1924, and graduated from Wake Forest University in 1943. In 1946, after a brief tour of duty in the U.S. Navy, Morgan settled in San Diego and worked for the San Diego Daily Journal as a columnist and arts editor. In 1950, he joined the San Diego Evening Tribune and wrote a column with the by-line "Crosstown with Neil Morgan" which later became "Neil Morgan." He has written numerous promotional books about San Diego and several books on the twentieth-century American West, including WESTWARD TILT: THE AMERICAN WEST TODAY(1963) ; THE PACIFIC STATES: CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON (1967); and THE CALIFORNIA SYNDROME (1969). He was the associate editor (1977-1981) and chief editor (1981-1992) of the San Diego Evening Tribune and the associate editor (1992-2004) and senior columnist (1992-2004) of the San Diego Union Tribune. Neil Morgan is a director of "Voice of San Diego," an online news and information website in San Diego.

From the description of Papers, 1941-2004. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 32333932

Biography

Neil Bowen Morgan was born in Smithfield, North Carolina, in 1924. He attended Wake Forest University where he edited the student magazine THE STUDENT. During his junior and senior years he worked as the assistant state news editor for the RALEIGH NEWS AND OBSERVER. Morgan graduated in 1943, at the age of 19, and was called up for military service into the Naval Air Corps training program in September 1944. He entered the U.S. Navy's three-month ensign school at Coral Gables, Florida, and was sent to the Western Pacific Command. He came to San Diego when the war ended, finished his military service at the Camp Kearny Naval Auxiliary Air Station, now Miramar, and was released from duty on March 15, 1946.

The next day Morgan took a job as a reporter for the SAN DIEGO DAILY JOURNAL which ran his first local article on June 15, 1946. He became the JOURNAL's music and drama editor and started a daily column in 1947 called "Air Fare" which was written under the pseudonym Terry Nolan until July 1, 1948, when it was credited to him. In this column, Morgan reviewed the radio scene, commented on entertainment industry personalities and their activities, and suggested interesting nightly radio programming. In April 1947, he started a column called "Crosstown: It Happened in San Diego" which he later complemented with an evening radio broadcast on KFMB titled "Crosstown Column of the Air." Morgan also reviewed regional cultural performances and events in a column entitled "From Our Seat" and critiqued long-playing records in his column "Record Review." On May 27, 1950, the Union Tribune Publishing Company purchased the JOURNAL and began publishing "Crosstown with Neil Morgan" in the SAN DIEGO EVENING TRIBUNE on June 12, 1950. The last "Crosstown with Neil Morgan" column was published on August 17, 1961, and the first "Neil Morgan" byline followed the next day.

In 1951, Morgan published MY SAN DIEGO, the first of a number of narrative guides that described and promoted the city's people and lifestyle in a collection of vignettes of longer than column length. Subsequent monographs included MY SAN DIEGO, 1960; NEIL MORGAN'S SAN DIEGO (c1963); SAN DIEGO: THE UNCONVENTIONAL CITY (1972); and SAN DIEGO: WHERE CALIFORNIA BEGAN...AND LIVES (1957), published by the San Diego Convention and Tourist Bureau.

During the 1960s, Morgan broadened his research and writing interests to include the postwar American West and wrote a weekly, syndicated column titled "Neil Morgan: Assignment West." He also travelled in the western states and conducted numerous interviews for his three subsequent books WESTWARD TILT: THE AMERICAN WEST TODAY (1963), THE PACIFIC STATES: CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON (1967), and THE CALIFORNIA SYNDROME (1969).

Morgan travelled extensively and regularly wrote articles for ESQUIRE, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING TRAVEL GUIDE, HOLIDAY, SATURDAY REVIEW, CARTE BLANCHE MAGAZINE, and WESTWAYS, as well as the inflight airline magazines MAINLINER and WESTERN'S WORLD. He covered the horseracing scene at Tijuana's Caliente Racetrack in a column entitled "Neil Morgan Writes About Caliente," published in THE NEW YORKER (March 1955-September 1956) and later in SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (March 1957-February 1959).

At the SAN DIEGO EVENING TRIBUNE, Morgan was associate editor (1977-1981) and chief editor (1981-1992). During his leadership, the editorial staff received two Pulitzer Prizes (1979 and 1987). After the merger of the EVENING TRIBUNE and the SAN DIEGO UNION in 1992, Morgan served as senior columnist and associate editor until March 2004.

Neil Morgan is currently a director of "Voice of San Diego," an online news and information website in San Diego.

From the guide to the Neil Morgan Papers, 1941-2004, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)