Selwyn Pepper

Selwyn Pepper, 93, died September 4 at Village Shalom in Overland Park, Kan., his home of the last four years. Pepper, a St. Louis native, had two clear loves: his family and newspapers, in that order. A perfect day for him in later years involved family, a big pile of newspapers and a couch. Always a gentleman, always a reader and always proud of all his family, he leaves many friends and admirers. The son of a paper carrier in St. Louis, he fell in love with the many different language newspapers piled in his father's horse-drawn buggy used for deliveries. After reading every book in the public library on journalism, he decided at age 9 it was the career for him. As editor of his Soldan High School newspaper, he impressed the then-St. Louis Post-Dispatch city editor with a feature on the editor's son. That led to an unprecedented job offer at age 16 to become a part-time reporter on Saturday nights for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Pepper graduated from Washington University with a degree in political science in 1935. He edited Student Life, the university paper, and began his full-time career with the Post-Dispatch. As a reporter and rewrite man, he contributed to three Public Service Pulitzer Prize-winning projects exposing St. Louis voter fraud, corruption in the nation's tax collection system and safety problems that led to a Centralia, Ill. mine disaster. During his 50-year career, he was city editor, features editor, news editor and reader's advocate. One day before he was drafted in 1941 he married the late Naomi Pepper and was first assigned to Jefferson Barracks, where he edited the military newspaper. After officer training in Miami, he headed to the Southwest Pacific as a public relations officer on Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff, escorting war correspondents and censoring stories. He served five years, leaving as a major in the Army Air Corps with a Bronze Star. After a brief stint as a reporter for Time Magazine in New York City, Pepper returned to the St. Louis Post- Dispatch. He was a member of Sigma Delta Chi, a past president of the St. Louis Press Club and a lifetime member of Congregation B'nai Amoona. He was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Naomi, his parents, Nathan and Esther Pepper, St. Louis, his sister and brother-in-law, Dorothy and Ben Smith, Los Angeles, and his brother and sister-in-law, Daniel and Gertrude Pepper, St. Louis, and his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Paul and Helga Levy, St. Louis. He is survived by his two daughters and sons-in-law, Lisa and Robert Gwyther, Chapel Hill, N.C., and Miriam Pepper and Richard Halliburton, Leawood; four grandchildren, Marni (James) Holder, Durham, N.C., Ryan (Chelsea) Gwyther, Pelham, Mass., Colin Halliburton, Lawrence, Kan., and Leah Halliburton, New York, N.Y.; four great grandchildren, Emma and Avery Gwyther and Elena and Aidan Holder. He especially wanted to thank the caregivers at Village Shalom and many past private aides in St. Louis who cared for his wife "for their kindnesses." Graveside service and burial at 2 p.m. Sunday, September 7, at Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol, 9125 Ladue Road, Ladue, Mo. Burial arrangements by Berger Memorial, St. Louis. The family requests no flowers and suggests memorial contributions may be sent to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Mid America Chapter, 7611 State Line Road, Suite 100, Kansas City, MO 64114 to honor his late wife who lived with M.S. for 57 years, or Village Shalom, 5500 W. 123rd St., Overland Park, KS 66209.