Journalism loses staunch civil rights voice, mentor

George E. Curry, a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch, co-founder of the Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists (GSLABJ) and co-founding director of the GSLABJ’s workshop for minority high school students, civil rights activist and advocate for the black press, died of a heart attack on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016.

Curry began his journalism career with Sports Illustrated before working for the Post-Dispatch from 1972–1983. He went from there to being Washington, DC, correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, where he brought the workshop model to the Washington ABJ chapter with support from several other former St. Louis media colleagues who also had joined DC journalism outlets. He was served as New York bureau chief for the Tribune.

Curry became editor of Emerge magazine in 1993, after Black Entertainment Television acquired a majority interest in the publication. He worked for the National Newspaper Publishers Association, where he wrote a weekly syndicated column that appeared in 200 newspapers, leaving in 2007 and returning in 2012. At the time of his death, he working to reestablish Emerge.

Curry wrote Jake Gaither: America’s Most Famous Black Coach (1977) and edited an anthology, The Best of Emerge Magazine (2003).

To many St. Louis colleagues, Curry’s most important contribution was as founder of the GSLABJ’s journalism workshop, now approaching its 40th year, with colleagues and alumni having replicated the model in several other cities, because of its role in training young people in essential journalism skills and launching their careers.

A service will be held on Saturday, Aug. 27, in Curry’s hometown of Tuscaloosa, AL. The Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are expected to present eulogies on Friday, Aug. 26, and at the funeral respectively.

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) has added in memoriam piece about Curry to its 2016 conference in Chicago and will present an excellence in journalism award in his name.

More information will be in our September print edition.

Links:

http://www.gslabj.org/news-and-events/

http://www.stlamerican.com/news/columnists/guest_columnists/george-curry-was-my-first-editor-best-editor-mentor-and/article_cdea7516-687f-11e6-81d2-f345d0834659.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/obituaries/george-e-curry-journalist-and-columnist-dead-at/article_222b9ee8-c513-5a9e-9373-451706109f65.html

http://www.nabj.org/news/304574/NABJ-Mourns-the-Passing-of-Longtime-Black-Press-Advocate-George-E.-Curry.htm

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/21/490849074/george-curry-legendary-political-and-civil-rights-journalist-dies-at-69?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-george-curry-obit-20160821-story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/george-e-curry-journalist-who-led-black-publication-emerge-dies-at-69/2016/08/22/41c75e5a-6875-11e6-ba32-5a4bf5aad4fa_story.html

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-delse-curry-20160821-story.html

http://stylemagazine.com/news/2016/aug/21/hillary-clinton-statement-passing-george-e-curry/

http://chicagocrusader.com/trusted-comrade-black-press-legend-george-curry-dies-69

https://www.facebook.com/groups/GSLABJ/

Author’s note:  Ruth E. Thaler-Carter was a reporter for the St. Louis Argus when the GSLABJ’s Minority High School Journalism Workshop began and helped launch a similar program in Washington, DC. She has written about the workshop for the St. Louis Journalism Review. She is currently a freelance writer/editor based in upstate New York and webmaster for the GSLABJ, which will hold a 40th anniversary event on December 3, 2016.