Dorothy J. Gaiter, BJ ’73, retired recently from The Wall Street Journal, where she wrote the popular Tastings wine column with her husband. While a student at the School, Gaiter served as one of the founding editors of Blackout, a newspaper published by the University of Missouri’s African-American students, and wrote for The Savitar, the MU yearbook. Following graduation, Gaiter worked as a reporter at the Miami Herald and an editor at the Miami News before joining The New York Times as a reporter for the Week in Review section, the metro desk and the style section. In 1984, Gaiter returned to the Miami Herald, where she became the paper’s first African-American female editorial writer and regular op-ed columnist.

In 1990, Gaiter became a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York City, and by 1996 she had become the Journal’s national news editor in charge of race and urban affairs coverage. Her writing on race was nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize, and she won awards from the Newswomen’s Club of New York and the National Association of Black Journalists.

In 1998, when the Journal launched its Weekend Edition, Gaiter and her husband, John Brecher, the Journal’s Page One editor, added the wine column to their regular duties. They became full-time wine columnists in 2000. Together, they’ve published four books, including “The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine: New and Improved,” “Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion: Red, White and Bubbly to Celebrate the Joy of Living” and “Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes From a Marriage.” The Journal nominated Tastings for a Pulitzer Prize. The pair retired at the end of 2009.

Updated: July 13, 2012