Joe Rago ’05 Obituary

Joseph Rago ’05, former Editor-in-Chief of The Dartmouth Review and a Pulitzer Prize-winning member of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, passed away on Thursday, July 20, at his home in New York City. He was 34.

Joseph Rago ’05

Rago was a brother of Phi Delta Alpha fraternity while at Dartmouth, from which he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history. He took an internship at The Wall Street Journal in 2005 and continued his career at the newspaper until his passing. He excelled in his career as an editorial writer and was described by his colleagues as a “reporter’s opinion writer,” in recognition of the depth of knowledge and research which went into his editorials. He particularly distinguished himself in the healthcare debate of 2009-2010, writing acerbic editorials in opposition to the Affordable Care Act. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for the excellence of his “against-the-grain editorials challenging the healthcare reform advocated by President Barack Obama.” More recently, Joe’s outstanding writing had focused on the Trump administration and various dealings in Washington. His final editorial, entitled “The Obamacare Republicans,” was published the day before his death.

We at The Review are deeply saddened by the news of Joseph Rago’s passing. Joe was a visionary journalist and a shining representative of our organization in his service on our board of directors. In this time of grieving, we honor his remarkable legacy at The Review and The Wall Street Journal and offer our deepest condolences and prayers to his friends and family.

Over the coming weeks, The Review intends to digitize and re-publish much of Joe Rago’s work for The Review in order to showcase and memorialize his legacy as one of this paper’s—and this nation’s—finest, sharpest, and most powerful voices.