Deborah Howell

Former Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell, a University of Texas graduate who helped lead two news organizations to win the Pulitzer Prize, has died. She was 68.

Howell's family said she suffered fatal injuries when she was struck by a car while vacationing in New Zealand with her husband, C. Peter Magrath, former president of the University of Minnesota.

Howell, a native of San Antonio, graduated from UT in 1962 and at the time of her death was serving on the university's College of Communications advisory council.

Howell became one of the first women to head a large daily American paper when she took over the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1987.

Rich Oppel, former editor of the American-Statesman, knew Howell for three decades and said she was a trailblazer for female editors.

"She had a fierce, tough-nosed way about her but also a great deal of warmth and affection for people," Oppel said.

"She was a great reporter — never gave up, and pushed and pushed. She edited papers like that, too, pushing reporters hard to get the best possible story."

In the early '60s, Howell was an intern at the Statesman. She also worked at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times before joining what was then the Minneapolis Star in 1965. She was city editor there for four years, one of the few women to hold the job at the time. In 1979, she left for the Pioneer Press as an assistant managing editor. She became managing editor in 1982, executive editor in 1984 and then editor.

Under Howell's leadership, the Pioneer Press won Pulitzer Prizes in 1986 and 1988.

In 1990, Howell left the Pioneer Press to become chief of the Newhouse newspaper group's Washington bureau. Howell's staff at Newhouse also won a Pulitzer under her leadership. She helped develop the Religion News Service and was a member of the board of what was then the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

"I don't think I've ever met anyone with as much passion for news and as much creativity and as much of a feeling for what it takes to be a great editor," said Steve Newhouse, chairman of Advance.net, who worked closely with Howell during her tenure at Newhouse News Service.

Howell joined the Post in 2005 as ombudsman, a job in which she advocated for the interests of readers, and held the position until 2008.

While ombudsman, she gained national attention for her controversial defense of the paper's coverage of the Jack Abramoff scandal, and for criticism of famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward.

In her first column as ombudsman in October 2005, Howell wrote about the difficulties of breaking into the male-dominated trade.

"I interned at the Austin American-Statesman and worked in radio and television in Corpus Christi because I couldn't get a newspaper job in 1962 except on the woman's pages," she wrote.

In that same column, she wrote of her values as a journalist, saying, "Journalism should be as accurate as human beings can make it and it should be enlightening, fair, honest and as transparent as possible. Mistakes should be acknowledged and quickly corrected.

"When you finish reading The Post, you should feel more informed than when you began. I truly believe a democracy can't operate without a free press. But I also can't live without 'Doonesbury' or 'Opus' on Sunday."

Howell helped launch the careers of writers such as "Friday Night Lights" author H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger, and best-selling novelist John Camp, a former Pioneer Press columnist who now writes under the name John Sanford.

"I can remember the first time she walked into the newsroom," Camp said. "Here's the skinny little woman who was going to be the assistant managing editor, and she kind of took the place over."

Howell once said her career path was probably set when her parents met in a newsroom. Her father, Henry Howell, was a Texas newspaper reporter and editor and also a broadcaster. Her mother, Mary Dell Williams, was editor of her high school newspaper.

In 1975, Howell married Nick Coleman, the Minnesota Senate majority leader. In 1988, she married Magrath.

Staff writer Sarah Coppola contributed to this report. Additional material from The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minnesota Public Radio.