Lois Wille

Lois Jean Wille (; née Kroeber; September 19, 1931 – July 23, 2019) was a Chicago-based journalist, editor, and author. She won her first of two Pulitzer Prizes in 1963 for a series on local government's failure to provide contraceptive information and services to low-income women. Her stories led to a number of important policy changes in women's healthcare, public housing, and the juvenile court systems.

Early life Wille was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1931 to architect Walter and homemaker Adele, née Taege. She had one younger brother, Donald. Soon after she was born, she moved with her family to Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Wille's maternal ancestors were of German descent, and lived in Chicago since the 1800s. Her mother was born in Arlington Heights. Wille's father was born in Leipzig, Germany, and moved to America in 1924 after finishing college.

Wille described her father as "an intellectual...[who] loved mathematics, science, archaeology and transmitted a lot of that to my brother and to me." Her mother "did...the things that a mother and homemaker did in the thirties and forties...but also early on developed a great interest in politics and civic affairs and later in her life she was one of the most avid listeners of talk shows and radio and readers of newspapers. I think she read newspapers more thoroughly than I did." "The excuse we kept hearing: 'Well, what if you get pregnant? Then you're going to quit.' And what do you say? You vow never to get pregnant? It was nonsense, and it's something a boss or editor would never dare say today."

Early in her career, Wille began covering the civil rights movement and social welfare issues. After consulting a local Catholic priest and activist, Fisher allowed the story to be run. Less than three months after the story's publication, the Illinois Public Aid Commission voted 6–4 to pay for birth control for welfare recipients.

After leading a report on the impact on Chicago of the death of Mayor Richard J. Daley, Wille shifted her focus from investigative to editorial writing. She was promoted to editor of the editorial page in 1977.

Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, and later career When the Chicago Daily News ceased publication in 1978, Wille became the editorial page editor at the Chicago Sun-Times. She retired from the Tribune in 1991.