Robert Arthur Rankin

RANKIN, Robert Arthur, a Richmond native who shared a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing at The Miami Herald, died February 24, 2021, in Wilmington, N.C. He was 71 years old.

Rankin was preceded in death by his father, Arthur N. Rankin, a longtime NCR Corp. representative to Richmond's banking community; and his mother, Martha Louise Rountree Rankin, who was executive secretary to Richmond's U.S. District Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr. in the 1960s and 1970s.

Rankin was a successful newspaper journalist for 40 years. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing in 1983 as a member of The Miami Herald Editorial Board. He was lead writer of a year-long Pulitzer-winning series of editorials that challenged the Reagan administration's inhumane treatment of Haitian refugees in South Florida. He also won state, regional and national journalism prizes as a reporter for The Richmond (Va.) News Leader from 1972 to 1975, national energy correspondent for Congressional Quarterly during the energy crisis from 1975 to 1978, editorial writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer from 1985 to 1987 and as national correspondent and news editor for the Washington bureau of Knight-Ridder Newspapers from 1987 to 2012.

Rankin was Knight-Ridder's national economics correspondent for five years and its senior White House correspondent covering the Clinton presidency for five and a half years. Knight-Ridder editors nominated his writing for a Pulitzer Prize five times. From 2000 to 2006, he was the KR Washington bureau news editor overseeing coverage of the White House, Congress, politics, elections and economics. After McClatchy Newspapers acquired Knight-Ridder in 2006, he retained the position until he retired in 2012 to Wilmington, N.C.

Rankin graduated from John Marshall High School in Richmond in 1967, earned a B.A. in political science from Randolph-Macon College in 1971, and an M.A. in government from the University of Virginia in 1974. He also was awarded a one-year fellowship in economics journalism by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1978. In 2017, Rankin was given a distinguished achievement award by Randolph-Macon College, "in recognition of contributions made to society through your chosen profession."

Rankin is survived by one son, Benjamin John Rankin, a lawyer in New York City (and his wife, Carrie Bodner); by a brother, Richard Alan Rankin, a retired sales rep for Motorola, of Richmond (and his wife, Daphne Rankin); and by two granddaughters. Rankin was predeceased by his wife, Judy Ann Rankin. A memorial service is expected to be held in Summer 2021 in Richmond, Va. In lieu of flowers, donations in his honor would be welcomed by Randolph-Macon College or the University of Virginia.