When Murray Dubin, KLN ‘69, registered for classes at Temple in 1965, his first journalism professor was Bob Williams, the night-city editor of the Philadelphia Daily News at the time, who would go on to be one of Dubin’s greatest influences throughout his career in journalism.
At his first job at the Arlington Heights Herald, Dubin reported on sewer board meetings, rock festivals and high school basketball. Right away, he began to win awards and praise from his editors.
He moved back to South Philadelphia in 1971 and began working at The Philadelphia Inquirer. During his 34 years there, he covered family and children, race and ethnicity, presidential primaries and more. He would be the West Coast bureau chief, an editorial writer and columnist. He edited a little bit of everything, but he was never assigned to cover sports.
Dubin has been awarded many honors, including Man of the Year from a Lions Club in South Philadelphia and being a runner-up for a Pulitzer.
In 2005, Dubin decided he would leave the world of journalism to focus on writing his third book, “Tasting Freedom,” about Philadelphia’s Octavius Catto, an educator and civil rights leader, and the national struggle for civil rights in the 19th century.
“Bob Williams steered me in the right direction,” he said. “I got paid to talk to people, to learn stuff and to write about it all with a clock ticking. Best job I ever had.”