Ira Wolfert (November 1, 1908 - November 24, 1997) was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent and writer.
He was born and grew up in New York City. In 1930, he graduated from the Columbia University School of Journalism with a bachelors degree.[1]
He then went to work for the North American Newspaper Alliance from the 1930s through World War II. His series of articles about the November 1942 Naval Battle of Guadalcanal won him the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting (International).[1][2][3] His first novel, Tucker's People about a vicious New York gangster, published in 1943, was well received by both critics and the general public.[1][3] Wolfert co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, Force of Evil, released in 1948. That same year, he had another success with the novel An Act of Love. He also wrote non-fiction, including the 1943 bestselling eyewitness account Battle for the Solomons and the 1948 American Guerrilla in the Philippines, which recounts the exploits of Navy officer Iliff David Richardson and was made into a 1950 film of the same name, starring Tyrone Power as Richardson. After the war, he continued to write, mainly articles for Readers Digest.
The House Un-American Activities Committee considered the leftist Wolfert a communist by association.[4]
Wolfert married poet Helen Herschdorfer in 1928. Their marriage lasted 57 years, until her death in 1985.
He died in Margaretville, New York at the age of 89. He was survived by daughter Ruth, son Michael, and four grandchildren.