Full Breakdown
Jerry Gay, Pulitzer-Winning Seattle Times Photographer, Dies at 79
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Jerry Gay’s Career and Pulitzer Achievement
Jerry Gay joined the Seattle Times in 1972 and spent decades capturing people in high-contrast black-and-white images. His most celebrated work is a 1975 photograph of four volunteer firefighters resting amid mud and smoke outside a Burien home during a house fire—a shot that earned the paper its only Pulitzer Prize in photography. Gay’s portfolio also includes striking portraits such as a kneeling minister, a man peering through a telescope at a national monument, and a photo of serial killer Ted Bundy taken in a Colorado jail.
Early Life and Photojournalism Path
Gay began in journalism delivering newspapers for *The Daily Herald* and writing for his Edmonds High School paper. After moving through newsrooms in Everett, Seattle, Los Angeles, Maui, Minnesota and New York, he founded *Picture Magazine* and even worked as a radio DJ in Blaine, Washington. In the late 1980s he settled in La Conner, where he continued photographing, teaching his daughter Ellen Bohn, and hosting community pizza parties.
Personal Reflections and Legacy
Alan Berner, a former Seattle Times photographer, said Gay’s talent for connecting with subjects let him “get up close and personal,” producing images that “elicit an emotional response.” Daughter Ellen Bohn is working to archive and digitize Gay’s slides, negatives and publications stored at her home.
Data & Statistics
- Age at death: 79 (weeks shy of his 80th birthday).
- Pulitzer Prize year: 1975 (for the Burien firefighters photograph).
- Career span: over four decades across multiple U.S. regions.
Verbatim Quote
“You wouldn’t expect to see a lot of landscapes from Jerry Gay,” — Former Seattle — Dan Lamont, Seattle photographer.