Allen Harold "Al" Neuharth (March 22, 1924 – April 19, 2013) was an American businessman, author, and columnist born in Eureka, South Dakota.

After the war, Neuharth attended the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, where he edited the school newspaper, The Volante.

Despite its initial popularity, the weekly SoDak Sports went bankrupt in a year's time, losing Neuharth the $50,000 he had borrowed.

After Neuharth decided that he could go no further in the Knight organization due to the Knight family's control, in 1963, he accepted Gannett head Paul Miller's offer to move to Gannett's headquarters in Rochester, New York to run its paper there, the Democrat and Chronicle.

Gannett purchased Harris because the firm was doing costly research for Neuharth to determine the advisability of starting a new national newspaper.

Neuharth founded USA Today in 1982,[6] which as of March 2013 was the third most widely read newspaper in the country.

After his retirement, Neuharth authored a weekly column entitled Plain Talk through August 2010.

Neuharth took control of the foundation, removed the CEO, and installed his own top executive.

Past winners include Walter Cronkite (1989), Carl T. Rowan (1990), Helen Thomas (1991), Tom Brokaw (1992), Larry King (1993), Charles Kuralt of CBS (1994), Albert R. Hunt and Judy Woodruff (1995), Robert MacNeil (1996), Cokie Roberts (1997), Tim Russert and Louis Boccardi (1998), John Seigenthaler (1999), Jim Lehrer (2001), Tom Curley (2002), Don Hewitt of CBS (2004), Garrison Keillor (2005), Bob Schieffer of CBS (2006), John Quinn and Ken Paulson (2007), Charles Overby (2008), Katie Couric (2009), Brian Lamb of C-SPAN (2011) and Marilyn Hagerty of the Grand Forks Herald (2012).

[17] Jack Marsh, president of the Al Neuharth Media Center and a close friend, confirmed that he died at his home.