Sam Roe is an investigative journalist who was part of the team of reporters at the Chicago Tribune that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for an examination of hazardous toys and other children's products.

Roe also has been a Pulitzer finalist four times: in 2000, 2011 and 2013 for Investigative Reporting and in 2017 for Public Service. He edited a 2022 Pulitzer finalist for Public Service.

Roe's stories have sparked new federal laws, product recalls, congressional hearings, and health and safety reforms, including a U.S. ban on the export of mercury, a reduction in toxic chemicals in toys and household furniture, and major safety improvements at the nation's pharmacies.

Articles on the hazards of the strategic metal beryllium have prompted the U.S. government to pay $24 billion to nuclear weapons workers harmed by beryllium, radiation and other toxic exposures. The articles also sparked the overhaul of an inadequate beryllium exposure standard that had been in place 68 years.

He was an investigative reporter for 14 years at the Toledo Blade and 19 years at the Chicago Tribune. He was also an investigations editor at Gannett for four years, overseeing projects at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and 10 other Gannett properties in Wisconsin.

He teaches in the journalism and film schools at Columbia College Chicago, where he has received the Excellence in Teaching Award.