Linda Lockhart, iconic Midwest journalist, mentor to young journalists, dies at 72

A stickler for straight-forward writing and AP style, Linda Lockhart did not pass away or transition. She died on May 4, 2025 of complications associated with cancer. She was 72.

Lockhart worked in more than half a dozen newsrooms in the Midwest, from St. Louis to St. Paul to Madison to Milwaukee and back to St. Louis. She mentored scores of young Black journalists as a founding member of the Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists and served as managing editor of the St. Louis American. The Gateway Journalism Review published her reflection on growing up in St. Louis and in 2020 the story of her family’s history dating back to her great-great-great grandmother.

Lockhart was the eldest daughter of the late Cornelious and Laura Lockhart. She was born in St. Louis on Aug. 29, 1952.

Lockhart attended Lutheran schools from kindergarten through high school. In 1970, she became the first African-American student to graduate from Lutheran High School South in Affton. 

She received a full scholarship from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and attended the University of Missouri, Columbia, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1974. In 1981 she completed training through the Editing Program of the Maynard Institute. 

After college, Lockhart began what would become a 45-year journey as a reporter, editor and editorial writer and other positions. She began at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, before moving on to work at the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Journal, the St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press, the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times, both in Madison, Wisconsin.

She also worked at the St. Louis Beacon, an online-only news organization, and at St. Louis Public Radio, an affiliate of National Public Radio. She retired in 2019.

In 2020, she returned to the newspaper business as interim managing editor of The St. Louis American, which published news of her death. After three months in that interim position, she re-retired in 2021. 

She was a founding member of the Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists and held many offices. For many years she served as an instructor in the group’s Minority Journalism Workshop. She was also a long-time member of the National Association of Black Journalists, where she served as secretary in 1977-78. She also served on the board of the St. Louis Press Club. 

She was a NABJ-StL Living Legend and in 2024 was inducted into the St. Louis Media History Foundation Hall of Fame in the Print category. 

She was baptized and confirmed at St. Philip’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in St. Louis, and was active in Lutheran congregations throughout her life. She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, ELCA, in Kirkwood, where she served in many positions, and had served as a member of the Synod Council of the Central States Synod, ELCA.

Lockhart was married to Steve Korris for 43 years. In addition to her husband,  survivors include her children, Rachel (Jermal) Seward and Paul Lockhart-Korris (Amanda K. Johnson); her grandchildren Avery Augusta Seward and Jermal Leon Seward III; her sisters, Cornelia Levels, Marsha Reis and Antoinette Collins, and many dear relatives and friends. 

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 10, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 327 Woods Mill Road in Manchester, Missouri.

In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to the American Cancer Society or the Trinity Lutheran Church Memorial Fund. 

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