Welcome to the Rhode Island Press Association

Bruce Burdett arrived at the offices of the Phoenix-Times Publishing Co. in July of 1975 as a young reporter and new arrival to the communities of the East Bay of Rhode Island. Forty-six years later, he retired as the longest-tenured, most prolific, and most accomplished journalist of his region.

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A graduate of Middlebury College, Bruce filled nearly every role in the East Bay newsroom, which grew from four weekly papers to seven during his career. He was editor of the flagship Bristol Phoenix, the Sakonnet Times, the Westport Shorelines, and the Bay Window, and longtime managing editor of the East Bay news operation. He also spent decades writing the “Along the Waterfront” column, a must-read for the sailors, boatbuilders, and water enthusiasts of the region.

Though his job title always included the word “editor,” Bruce never stopped writing. He filed thousands of articles on every subject imaginable. He wrote obituaries, dug through crime logs, interviewed the dynamic and the zany, and spent countless hours watching volunteer boards navigate the dense agendas of public business. Camera slung over his shoulder, he raced to the scenes of burning buildings, to the storm waves rolling up the coast, and to the tragedies that were never forgotten in the small communities he covered.

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Of his many skills and accomplishments, a few stand apart. Bruce was a gifted editorial writer, recognized many times by his peers. He was a watchdog for his communities, and he had the unique ability to skewer a subject without venom or vitriol, his targets left feeling they had been treated fairly and with respect.

He also had a keen eye for the odd, the quirky and the uniquely local. Bruce would head off in pursuit of one story, only to return hours later with a delightful tale of a stone wall to nowhere, a barroom bet gone awry, or a curmudgeon with a colorful past.

Bruce devoted his career and much of his life to the small towns of the East Bay, and he retired in 2021 as one of the great ambassadors of local journalism.

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Inducted into the R.I. Journalism Hall of Fame June 2022