Author of May 1986 Leonard Peltier Article
By the alley
Gary Dale Fife, a legendary journalist and cherished soul, departed this world on January 14, 2024, at the age of 73 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was born on September 21, 1950. Fife was still hosting radio shows and writing a weekly column when he died.
Gary was a career veteran of journalism, with more than 50 years of experience in print, radio and television. He specialized in national Native and governmental affairs, spending 11 years in Washington, D.C. Gary (Creek-Cherokee) was hired as Migizi Communications’ first Executive Director and News Director in 1981. He came from the American Indian Press Association and Association on American Indian Affairs and had formal and professional training in journalism. He broadcasted Migizi’s First Person Radio from the Peace Center building at 2300 Cedar Avenue, on land now part of the expanded East Phillips Park.
Journalism was Gary’s lifeblood. He was a trailblazer in the field, reporting on almost every major event in Native American news since the 1970s. His tenure with Mvskoke Media witnessed his commitment to bringing stories of national significance to Indian Country. Gary was a true pioneer of Native Media.
He was the first to host “National Native News,” a program that was launched in Alaska in the late 1980s.
He devoted the last years of his life to his tribe’s online news publication, Mvskoke Media, capping off more than a half century of efforts to change the way journalists cover Indigenous peoples. Across Oklahoma, Gary Fife was known as the Voice of Mvskoke, a voice familiar to Indian Country, in large part due to his work on National Native News.
