Jim Sheeler

Since the first Colorado casualty of the War in Iraq, Jim Sheeler has specialized in covering the impact of the war at home for the Rocky Mountain News. By now, he knows many of the gravediggers at Fort Logan National Cemetery by name. He won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for his story, “Final Salute," and has won numerous other national writing awards.
Before joining the News in 2002, he wrote long-form narrative obituaries for the Denver Post, an experience he says prepared him in many ways for his recent journey with the Marines and the families of the fallen. He began his career as a business reporter for the Boulder Daily Camera and, later, as a features reporter at the Boulder Planet, a community weekly paper.
Born in Houston, Texas, he graduated with a degree in journalism from Colorado State University in 1990, and earned a Masters degree in journalism from the University of Colorado in 2007.
His book of collected obituaries, “Obit: Inspirational Stories of Everyday People Who Led Extraordinary Lives,” was published in June by Pruett Publishing. Another book, based on "Final Salute" and other stories about the home front, is scheduled for publication in 2008 by The Penguin Press.