The Star’s Michael Lindenberger, Pulitzer winner and ‘Southern gentleman,’ dies at 51
Michael Lindenberger, a Pulitzer-winning journalist who led The Kansas City Star’s opinion team, has died.
Lindenberger, 51, died over the weekend at his Kansas City home following a brief illness.
A newspaper journalist since the 1990s, Lindenberger in July was hired as The Star’s vice president and editorial page editor.
“Michael will be missed by all of us who had the privilege of working with him,” said Greg Farmer, interim executive editor of The Star. “He loved the work of journalism, and he told me many times how fortunate he felt to have this opportunity in Kansas City. He will always be a part of us.”
He came to The Star after years of award-winning work in Texas media, where he worked for the Houston Chronicle for five years and the Dallas Morning News for 14. Earlier this year, Lindenberger and three Chronicle colleagues won a Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s highest honor, for editorial writing that judges said “revealed voter suppression tactics, rejected the myth of widespread voter fraud and argued for sensible voting reforms.”
“All of us on the editorial board are profoundly shocked and saddened at the loss of someone who had immediately become a trusted leader of our team,” said Derek Donovan, The Star’s community engagement editor. “Michael was a warm and welcoming intellect who worked collaboratively with everyone to produce the best work possible. He left an indelible mark in his short time with us.”
Before his adoption at the age of 4, Lindenberger grew up in a series of foster homes, said his brother Hudson Lindenberger. After his adoption, he learned from the example of his father, who was a union organizer and official.
That experience drove his passion for journalism, Hudson Lindenberger said.
“He got a very, very strong sense of social justice, equality for all. And it was something that drove him for his whole life,” said Hudson Lindenberger. “His mission in life was to try to make the world better for people and to always look out for those who couldn’t look out for themselves.”
Lindenberger received a bachelor’s degree in political science and a law degree from the University of Louisville. He spent the 2012-13 academic year at Stanford University as a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow.
Raised in Kentucky, Lindenberger was a bourbon and cocktail connoisseur. He loved to travel, particularly to Europe. And he taught college courses for years in addition to his full-time work.
His brother described him as an avid reader who was most fond of southern writers such as William Faulkner, Robert Penn Warren and Hunter S. Thompson.
“He was a southerner at heart. A southern gentleman would be a good way to put it,” he said. “He never had a bad word to say about anyone. He loved nothing more than discussing and long conversations…You could argue with him for hours on end. Because he enjoyed it — even if it drove you crazy.”
In Houston, Lindenberger’s former boss remembered him as a true believer in the power of the written word.
“What stood out was how much he believed in the power of free speech and the power of good information to overcome bad,” said Chronicle opinion editor Lisa Falkenberg. “That’s the kind of lofty ideals he espoused daily.”
When he left for Kansas City, his old boss cheered the move: He had always wanted to run his own team, and the new job afforded him that opportunity.
“This was a chance for him to show what he could do when he’s making the ultimate decision,” she said. “It was something he was certainly qualified to do, something I was really excited to watch him do. Sadly fate had other plans.”
In a note to Houston colleagues on Monday, Falkenberg described Lindenberger as a trusted confidant, a gourmand and a true intellectual.
“Michael lived life to its fullest. There’s some consolation in knowing that,” she wrote. “But right now, the strongest feeling seems to be gratitude — for the honor of working alongside Michael and for the blessing of calling him my friend.”
He was preceded in death by his parents and his partner of more than 20 years, businessman and poet Phil Clore, who died in December 2021.
Lindenberger is survived by four older siblings: Hudson Lindenberger, of Hilton Head, South Carolina; Jenny Nilest, of Louisville, Kentucky; Jim Lindenberger, of Tampa, Florida; and Bob Lindenberger, of Titusville, New Jersey; as well as five nieces and a nephew.
“He’ll be very much missed by his family,” said Hudson Lindenberger. “We loved our younger brother.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2022 at 4:26 PM.
