Regalia and Official Colors

honor ary doctor of letters (litt.d.)
russ buettner
Investigative Reporter, New York Times
Russ Buettner is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for
the New York Times. He joined the Times in 2006 after working as
an investigative reporter at The Daily News in New York and New
York Newsday. Since 2016, his reporting has focused on the personal
finances of former President Donald J. Trump, including articles
exploring Trump’s business records in Atlantic City, work which
exposed a history of Trump overstating business revenues.
Investigative reporting by Mr. Buettner and two colleagues at
the New York Times further revealed that Trump, contrary to
representing himself as a self-made businessman, had received
the equivalent of at least $413 million from his father, a figure that
the team’s reporting showed had been greatly enhanced by tax
avoidance schemes. For their efforts, Mr. Buettner and his colleagues
won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, the highest
award in journalism. A few years later, Mr. Buettner was part of a
team that obtained two decades of Trump’s tax returns – one of the
biggest scoops in recent history.
Mr. Buettner’s reporting also exposed unpaid taxes by The Rev. Al
Sharpton and uncovered multiple other instances of corruption by elected and appointed officials. In 2012,
he and a colleague were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for a series of articles that uncovered
abuse, neglect and other deadly mistakes in New York’s system meant to care for developmentally disabled
people. While working at the New York Daily News, Mr. Buettner broke a story about wrongdoing by Bernard
B. Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner. Kerik eventually pleaded guilty to state and federal
charges and was sent to prison.
Mr. Buettner, a native of Sacramento, was Made at Sac State. He graduated in 1990 after spending a
significant amount of time writing for the State Hornet, the student-run campus news publication. He
generously took time to speak to State Hornet staff shortly after his Pulitzer win, offering tips and advice to
aspiring young journalists.
Mr. Buettner and his wife, Stacey, have one daughter.
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