Gilbert Martin Gaul was born in
Jersey City, New Jersey. Growing up in nearby
Kearny, Gaul attended
St. Benedict's Prep in
Newark, where he was a state champion in the
javelin throw. He graduated from
Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1973. among other national reporting awards. In 1980, Gaul worked for the
Philadelphia Bulletin covering
Atlantic City, which recently had added casino gaming. He returned to Pottsville a year later and worked on a series detailing millions in waste in the county government, which won a National Headliners Award for investigative reporting. In 1982–1983, Gaul was a Nieman Fellow. The Nieman Fellowship is an award given to mid-career journalists by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. This award allows winners time to reflect on their careers and focus on honing their skills, at Harvard University, where he studied business, law and public health. He briefly returned to Pottsville and then moved to
The Philadelphia Inquirer, covering medical economics on the business staff. In 1989, Gaul wrote a five-part series on the business of buying and selling human blood, as well as safety flaws in the nation's blood system. The
Inquirer won the
1990 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service citing "reporting by Gilbert M. Gaul that disclosed how the American blood industry operates with little government regulation or supervision." Meanwhile, Gaul was personally a finalist for the National Reporting Pulitzer. In all, Gaul worked at
The Inquirer for 18 years. In 1994, he was again finalist for the National Reporting Pulitzer, for a series disclosing the explosive growth of non-profit organizations and their impact on the economy and tax laws. The series won numerous awards, including the Harvard Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. In 2001, Gaul was finalist for the National Reporting Pulitzer for a five-part series on the business and commercialization of college sports. (On all three occasions there were three
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting finalists, the winner and two runners-up.) In 2000, Gaul briefly worked at
The New York Times and in 2001 joined the national investigative staff at
The Washington Post, where he remained through 2009. While there, Gaul authored a number of series, including a 2006 detailing $15 billion in waste in federal
agricultural subsidies that was a Pulitzer finalist in National Reporting. Dan Morgan and Sara Cohen worked with Gaul on the series. In 2010, Gaul became a contributing writer to the non-profit
Kaiser Health News, specializing in enterprise and long-form stories. He is also the author of four books, including Giant Steps, a chronicle of his son, Cary, who was born with spina bifida, and BILLION-DOLLAR BALL, named one of the best sports books of 2015. Gaul is married to Cathryn Candy, an art teacher. His older son, Gregory, a Princeton graduate, lives and works in Tennessee. ==Quotes==