Tom Shales, a Pulitzer-winning tv critic on the Washington Publish who spent practically 40 years on the publication, has died. He was 79.

Shales died Saturday at a hospital in Fairfax County, Va., from problems attributable to COVID-19 and renal failure, his caretaker, Victor Herfurth, advised the Washington Publish.

Shales started his profession because the Publish’s chief TV critic in 1977, and was identified for his incisive and sharp commentary on numerous types of tv, from cable dramas to community sitcoms, from State of the Union speeches to late-night reveals. He was first employed by the Publish in 1972 as a method author.

In 1988, Shales received the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, turning into the fourth TV reviewer to earn the consideration in journalism.

Shales took a buyout from the Washington Publish in 2006, however remained on contract for a further 4 years, in accordance with the paper, “earlier than being, in his view, unceremoniously edged out due to a wage of about $400,000 per yr.”

Thomas William Shales was born in Elgin, Sick., on Nov. 3, 1944. He attended Elgin Neighborhood Faculty earlier than transferring to American College, the place he grew to become the editor-in-chief of the scholar newspaper.

After graduating in 1968 with a bachelor’s diploma in journalism, Shales labored as an leisure editor on the D.C. Examiner till the early ’70s.

Along with his work for the Washington Publish, Shales wrote for the Huffington Publish, TelevisionWeek and Roger Ebert’s movie and tv overview web site. He wrote two books — “Reside From New York: An Uncensored Historical past of Saturday Evening Reside” (2002) and “These Guys Have All of the Enjoyable: “Contained in the World of ESPN” (2011) — with fellow Publish reporter James Andrew Miller.