Darrell Ehrlick is a fourth-generation Yellowstone County resident, having been born and raised in Billings, graduating from Billings Senior High. He received his degrees from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota in religious studies and an honors degree in Literature, with minors in Greek, Latin and Russian. He studied religion in graduate school at Candler School of Theology at Emory University and worked on an MFA in literary journalism at Bennington College in Vermont. 

He’s authored four books and edited an anthology of local history. He has been a journalist in seven states, getting his start at The Forum of Fargo Moorhead. He was awarded the highest honor the Veterans of Foreign War can bestow on a journalist for his work collecting and documenting veterans of the Vietnam War. 

He taught journalism at the university level, has been involved in numerous nonprofit boards and was the editor of The Billings Gazette before starting the nonprofit Daily Montanan, which is a part of States Newsroom, the largest nonprofit news organization in the country. He and his spouse, Cassy, have three children, three cats and live in downtown Billings.