[1] Mr. Peirce wrote a weekly column for The Washington Post Writers Group from 1978 to 2013.
From 1986 to 2011, he worked with colleague Curtis Johnson to produce comprehensive "Peirce Reports" on conditions and potential improvements in 26 metro areas.
Much of this work was reinforced by efforts of the Citistates Group, a network of American journalists he established in 1995 to similarly focus on reporting on towns and cities.
In 2014, Mr. Peirce launched Citiscope, a news service reporting on cities around the globe that eventually became part of the Thomson Reuters project, Place.
In recognition of the many years he spent on the road covering America's urban beat, the foundation's primary focus will be to award travel grants for journalists to get to cities and metro areas as he did–and report on solutions percolating there.