Martin Oliver "Mo" Waldron (February 2, 1925 – May 27, 1981) was an American newspaper reporter, whose investigative reporting on "reckless, unchecked spending" on the construction of the Sunshine State Parkway won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service for the St. Petersburg Times "for its aggressive investigation of the Florida Turnpike Authority which disclosed widespread illegal acts and resulted in a major reorganization of the State's road construction program." At the time of his death, Waldron was the Trenton, New Jersey bureau chief for The New York Times.
Waldron was born on February 2, 1925 in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. He attended Middle Georgia College, Georgia Institute of Technology and Atlanta Law School, and was awarded his undergraduate degree from Birmingham–Southern College.[1] He worked as a reporter at The Atlanta Constitution, The Birmingham Age-Herald, the Birmingham Post-Herald and The Tampa Tribune, gradually shifting to a focus on investigative reporting.[1]
He was with the St. Petersburg Times in 1963, when he wrote a total of 150,000 words as part of the newspaper's coverage of unchecked spending by the Florida Turnpike Authority that led to estimated costs quadrupling from initial estimates of $100 million.[1] Waldron received a tip about excessive spending by John Hammer, chairman of the Florida Turnpike Authority, which included expensive hotels and meals, corsages for his secretary and overcharging for a chartered plane.[2] As part of his efforts to see how much it would take to spend $30 on a meal in 1963, at a time when two could dine opulently for $15, Waldron and a colleague went to an expensive Miami restaurant, where they ended up eating a caesar salad, sirloin steak, dessert and two brandies, and hit their $30 target by paying for the glass the brandy came in and adding a $5 tip.[3] His coverage earned the newspaper the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1964, the first for the newspaper, and led to changes in the way the state of Florida managed highway construction projects.[1][4]
He moved to The New York Times in 1966, becoming the paper's Trenton bureau chief. His final reporting for the paper was about casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey and their relationships with local municipal government, a series that was nominated for a Pulitzer.[1] Arthur Gelb, then deputy managing editor for The Times, recalled that "if Mo Waldron was in town there would be a party somewhere and everybody from the mayor down would be there".[5]
Waldron died at age 56 on May 27, 1981, at his home in Hightstown, New Jersey due to heart disease. He was survived by his wife, author Ann Waldron, as well as a daughter and three sons.[1]