Inducted June 16, 2023
For nearly four decades, Anita Lee has distinguished herself as one of Mississippi’s most persistent and respected investigative journalists, chronicling the people, institutions and events that have shaped the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
A Mississippi native, Lee earned a journalism degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. She began her professional career at the Jackson Daily News and later worked for The Virginian-Pilot in Virginia before joining the Sun Herald in Biloxi in 1987.
At the Sun Herald, Lee built a reputation for tenacious reporting on government, courts, public corruption and the use of taxpayer money. Her career has placed her at the center of some of the most consequential stories in modern Gulf Coast history.
Among her early major assignments was coverage of the 1987 murders of Biloxi Circuit Court Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife, former Biloxi mayoral candidate Margaret Sherry. The investigation into their deaths exposed connections to the Dixie Mafia and became one of the most notorious criminal cases in Mississippi history.
Lee also played a prominent role in the Sun Herald’s investigation of corruption at the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Her reporting helped chronicle the misuse of public funds that ultimately resulted in federal convictions, including those of former DMR executive director.
Her reporting has extended to environmental and economic issues critical to the Coast, including coastal restoration, fisheries, sea-level rise and the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In 2022, Lee participated in ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network for a yearlong investigative partnership examining Mississippi’s expenditure of millions of dollars in BP settlement funds intended to benefit the Gulf Coast.
Lee also was part of the Sun Herald staff whose coverage of Hurricane Katrina earned the newspaper the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. The Pulitzer board recognized the Sun Herald for its “valorous and comprehensive coverage” of the hurricane and its aftermath.
Over the course of her career, Lee has received numerous state, regional and national journalism honors. Her investigation into the expenditure of BP settlement money received the Mississippi Press Association’s Bill Minor Award for General News Reporting in 2023. The award held special significance for Lee, who counted the legendary Mississippi journalist Bill Minor as a mentor and friend.
Former Sun Herald Executive Editor Blake Kaplan described Lee as “the heart and soul and face of the Sun Herald on the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” a reflection of both her long tenure at the newspaper and the depth of her connection to the community she has covered.
Lee was inducted into the Mississippi Press Association Hall of Fame in 2023, recognizing a career defined by persistence, public-service journalism and an unwavering commitment to holding government and other powerful institutions accountable.
