Martin “Marty” Baron was executive editor of The Washington Post from Jan. 2, 2013, through Feb. 28, 2021. He oversaw The Post’s print and digital news operations. During his tenure as executive editor the newsroom grew from 580 to almost 1,000 journalists.

Baron-led newsrooms won 17 Pulitzer Prizes, including 10 at The Post. The Post during his tenure won four times for national reporting, twice for explanatory reporting and once each for investigative reporting, criticism, feature photography and public service. The public service prize was awarded in recognition of revelations of secret surveillance by the National Security Agency. Previously, Baron had been editor of the Boston Globe. During his 11½ years there, the Globe won six Pulitzer Prizes — for public service, explanatory journalism, national reporting and criticism. The Globe was awarded the public service prize in 2003 for its investigation into a pattern of concealing clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church, coverage portrayed years later in the Academy Award-winning movie “Spotlight.”

Before the Globe, Baron held top editing positions at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Miami Herald. Under his leadership, the Miami Herald won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for its coverage of the raid to recover Elián González, the Cuban boy at the center of a fierce immigration and custody dispute. He began his journalism career at the Miami Herald in 1976 as a state reporter and later as a business writer. In 1979, he moved to the Los Angeles Times, where he became business editor in 1983; assistant managing editor for page-one special reports, public opinion polling and special projects in 1991; and, in 1993, editor of the newspaper’s Orange County Edition. In 1996, Baron went to the New York Times, where he became associate managing editor for night news operations in 1997.

He was named executive editor at the Miami Herald at the start of 2000. During his time at The Post, Baron became a leading defender of the First Amendment and the role of journalists in society, famously saying, “We are not at war … we are at work.” He was born and raised in Tampa.