Born in Sydney on 28 August 1951, Pearson spent most of his life in Adelaide. He received a
Bachelor of Arts with Honours (third-class) from
Flinders University as well as a Graduate Diploma in Education from the
University of Adelaide. Pearson wrote occasional articles for a wide range of newspapers, including
The Herald,
The Age, and
The Courier-Mail, through the 1980s and 1990s. He was a regular columnist for the
Australian Financial Review between 1997 and 2001, before moving to the
Weekend Australian. In this paper he wrote commentary and articles that covered a wide variety of cultural and religious matters pertaining to Australian society. He was also on the board of the government-owned
SBS television station. He served as a
speechwriter to Howard, who served as
Prime Minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, and was a close friend and
mentor to another Prime Minister,
Tony Abbott (2013–2015), whose books he also edited. Pearson died in Adelaide on 7 June 2013. Tony Abbott was a pall-bearer at his burial. ==Works==