Mary Pitman Kitch was born in Texas and grew up in Kansas . She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Kansas University with a degree in English literature and then worked in a city planning department and as a neighborhood advocate.

She worked for the Fresno Bee before joining the Oregonian in 1994, first as a copy editor and later as an editorial writer, covering local government, land-use planning, gay rights, and immigration. She was both a Casey fellow and a Knight fellow. The Oregonian 's series on the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which won the Pulitizer Prize for public service in 2001, included one of her editorials. In 2003, she won "best editorial" in Oregon.

Listen to Kitch describe Portland's unusual city government.