James Perry, 89, former Fourth Estate Award winner

James M. Perry, 1997 winner of the National Press Club's Fourth Estate Award, died Nov. 23 of heart disease. He was 89.

Perry, who lived in Chevy Chase, Md., was chief political correspondent for the Wall Street Journal when he was recognized by the Club for his distinguished career in journalism and became a Club member. He continued to write commentary and books after retiring from daily journalism in 1997.

Perry gained national prominence as a correspondent for the weekly National Observer, a Dow Jones publication from 1962 to 1977. Born in Elmira, N.Y., he worked for the Hartford (Conn.) Times after serving as a Marine in World War II.

He later worked for the Philadelphia Bulletin and, after the National Observer folded, The Wall Street Journal. He covered President John F. Kennedy’s trip to Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated. Perry authored several books on politics and the Civil War.

His interest in politics and journalism continued throughout his life. In a recent piece for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he wrote about his addiction to corrections in the New York Times.

''Military terminology is always a problem, now that hardly anybody in the media actually served in one of the armed services," he noted. Books he wrote may be viewed on on Amazon.

A graduate of Elmira College, memorials in his name may be made to the Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies or Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.