Kery Murakami

A true blue Journalist, Kery Murakami was a New Yorker's New Yorker. A Bronx Science graduate and homegrown Yankees fan until the end, Kery died far too young. In May of 2025, at 58 years of age, he succumbed to an aggressive form of ALS. Kery often mused he had Lou Gehrig beat by 21 years. Like Gehrig, at the end of his life Kery felt lucky to have lived a life doing what he loved. He leaves behind a legacy of intrepid reporting, great writing and deep friendships.

As a lifelong reporter, Kery felt strongly about the integrity of his work, a fact which no one who knew him would dispute. Never without his fedora, rolled up sleeves and ink stains on his shirt pocket, Kery could be easily identified in a reporter scrum, picket line, protest or the US Senate Press Gallery.

Kery remains a legend at The Michigan Daily, the University of Michigan student newspaper. He began his professional career while still in school, writing for the Detroit Free Press, then moving on to cover crime in Jersey City. He moved to Seattle to cover politics at the city hall and statehouse level for The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He then had a brief layover back in New York before moving on to Washington, DC to cover Congress for a variety of daily publications. What he really loved were the human interest pieces that allowed him to flex his ability to find a riveting story in the most mundane of places with otherwise unassuming people, which he notably did on nis beat as The DC Rider for The Washington Post.

He founded the Seattle PostGlobe after his former newspaper abruptly ceased its print operation, and was profiled in The Columbia Journalism Review, where Jonathan Peters described him as the "reluctant news entrepreneur." The story described Kery as "equal parts journalist, sprinter, and octopus" and, being "low-key and likable, with an empathetically pessimist demeanor.... He stutters when he speaks and is almost pathologically self-deprecating...." . And there you have Kery Murakami - a scrappy newspaper man, dedicated to his craft.

Kery is survived by his parents, Frank and Hiroko Murakami, of Kyoto Japan, his chosen family from coast to coast and a wide cast of characters whose lives intersected with his own in the most unusual of places.

The best way to honor Kery is to hoist a beer to a friend and donate to ALS research: https://www.als.org/