Al Lewis (columnist)
{{short description|American journalist}}{{Infobox person
| image = Al Lewis, Columnist, Financial Writer.jpg
| caption = Lewis in 2013
| alma_mater = MacMurray College{{br}}University of Illinois Springfield
| occupation = Journalist
}}
Al Lewis is an American journalist who has served as a columnist for The Wall Street Journal Sunday, MarketWatch and The Denver Post. On April 1, 2016, he became business editor of the Houston Chronicle.{{Cite web|url=http://talkingbiznews.com/1/houston-chronicle-names-al-lewis-its-business-editor/|title=Houston Chronicle names Al Lewis its business editor - Talking Biz News|website=talkingbiznews.com|access-date=2016-06-26}} On March 15, 2024, he launched [https://businessblunders.substack.com/ Business Blunders], a Substack newsletter chronicling the biggest missteps in business.{{Cite web|url=https://businessblunders.substack.com/|title=Business Blunders|access-date=2024-08-14}}
Career
Lewis grew up in Northbrook, Illinois, and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science from MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, and a master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield.
He has worked as either a financial writer or editor since 1985, including stints at the Amarillo Globe-News, The Gazette (Colorado Springs), and the defunct Rocky Mountain News. From 2001 to 2008, he was business columnist at The Denver Post. From 2008 until 2013, he authored "Al's Emporium", a column for Dow Jones Newswires, a service of Dow Jones & Co. A column he wrote through 2013 for The Wall Street Journal Sunday appeared in about 70 newspapers nationwide; the edition was discontinued in 2015.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/goodbye-from-the-wsj-sunday-1423359901|title=Goodbye From The WSJ Sunday|date=2015-02-08|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|issn=0099-9660|access-date=2016-06-26}} From 2014 to 2016, Lewis was editor in chief of South Florida Business Journal.{{Cite web|url=http://www.denverpost.com/2014/07/03/al-lewis-named-editor-in-chief-of-south-florida-business-journal/|title=Al Lewis named editor in chief of South Florida Business Journal – The Denver Post|access-date=2016-06-26}} Through 2015, Lewis also wrote a blog called Tell It To Al, and over several years, he frequently appeared on Fox Business Network and Denver's NBC affiliate, KUSA (TV).
Lewis often writes about big business, especially through interviews. His work is said to chronicle the human drama of business. To critics who call him "much more of a socialist than a free marketeer,"{{Cite web|url=http://madwelshman-unknown.blogspot.com/2014/04/al-lewis-never-tires-of-being-wrong.html|title=Mad Welshman: Al Lewis Never Tires Of Being Wrong|last=Welshman|first=Mad|date=2014-04-11|website=Mad Welshman|access-date=2016-06-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011034920/http://madwelshman-unknown.blogspot.com/2014/04/al-lewis-never-tires-of-being-wrong.html|archive-date=2016-10-11|url-status=dead}} Lewis responded thus in his final Wall Street Journal Sunday column: "I admire entrepreneurs and seek free enterprise for all. Unfortunately, some things stand in the way, including tyrants, idiots, and ideologies. And when you're a columnist, it's your job to point this out."{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-few-parting-words-from-al-lewis-1405210990|title=A Few Parting Words|last=Lewis|first=Al|date=2014-07-13|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|issn=0099-9660|access-date=2016-06-26}}
The Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Colorado Press Association, and the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver have honored Lewis for his writing and reporting. He also received column-writing awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers each year between 2006 and 2011. "Lewis shows that business writing can be fun and interesting as well as informative," a panel of SABEW judges wrote.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tellittoal.com/about/|title=About|access-date=2016-06-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011034838/http://www.tellittoal.com/about/|archive-date=2016-10-11|url-status=dead}} Lewis won the William R. Clabby Dow Jones Newswires Award for his work in 2008 and 2009.{{Cite news |date=27 June 2008 |title=Dow Jones Hires Award-Winning Business Editor and Columnist, Al Lewis, to Join Dow Jones Newswires Editorial Team |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235440/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dow-jones-hires-award-winning-business-editor-and-columnist-al-lewis-to-join-dow-jones-newswires-editorial-team-57555152.html |work=PR Newswire}}
References
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Category:People from Northbrook, Illinois
Category:MacMurray College alumni
Category:University of Illinois at Springfield alumni
Category:The Denver Post people
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:The Wall Street Journal people
Category:Glenbrook North High School alumni