Kevin Klose, Who Made NPR a Reporting Powerhouse, Dies at 85

A longtime journalist at The Washington Post, he used his unexpected fund-raising talents to greatly expand the radio organization’s coverage.

Kevin Klose, a veteran journalist who joined NPR as president and chief executive in 1998 with no fund-raising experience, and then more than doubled its audience, budget and endowment over the next decade — above all by landing a $230 million gift from Joan B. Kroc, widow of the McDonald’s founder — died on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. He was 85.

His wife, Deborah Ashford, said his death, in an assisted living home, was from Alzheimer’s disease.

Mr. Klose had been a widely respected reporter and editor at The Washington Post whose career there included four years as its Moscow bureau chief.