Renowned journalist George E. Curry died suddenly of heart failure on Saturday, August 20. He was 69.
“He helped pave the way for other journalists of color to do their jobs without the questions and doubts,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., who traveled with Curry extensively, including to the funeral of South African President Nelson Mandela.
“He was a proud and tireless advocate of the Black Press, serving two tours as editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s news service.”
Curry’s fiancée Ann Ragland said the funeral will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, August 27 at the Weeping Mary Baptist Church, 2701 20th St., Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Rev. Al Sharpton will give the eulogy. A viewing will be held at the church on Saturday from 8:30-11 a.m.
Having grown up in Tuscaloosa during the height of racial segregation, Curry often said he “fled Alabama” and vowed never to return. However, Ragland said he always told her to return him home to Tuscaloosa upon his death.
“George Curry was a journalist who paid special attention to civil rights because he lived it and loved it,” Dr. Bernard Lafayette, MLK confidant and chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), said through his spokesman Maynard Eaton.
Curry’s connection to the SCLC was through his longtime childhood friend, confidant and ally in civil rights, Dr. Charles Steele, SCLC president. Steele and Curry grew up together in Tuscaloosa, where they played football at Druid High School. Curry bloomed as a journalist as Steele grew into a politician and civil rights leader.
“He was a pacesetter with the pen. He saw things that other people didn’t see,” said Steele. “And once he saw those things, he embraced them and exposed them in terms of putting information into the hands of people who would normally be left out of the process, meaning the African-American community.”
Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G. K. Butterfield (D-North Carolina), said in a statement: “George E. Curry was a giant in journalism and he stood on the front lines of the Civil Rights era and used his voice to tell our stories when others would not.”
Curry began his journalism career at Sports Illustrated, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Chicago Tribune. But he is most revered for his editorship of the award-winning former Emerge Magazine and, more recently, for his work as editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) from 2001-2007. He returned to leadership of the NNPA News Service in 2012 until last year.
“The news of George’s death leaves a tremendous void that will be difficult to fill,” said NNPA Chairwoman Denise Rolark Barnes, publisher of the Washington Informer. “George’s uncompromising journalistic leadership delivered on Emerge’s promise to deliver edgy, hard-hitting, intellectual, well-written and thoroughly researched content that attracted national attention and left an indelible mark on the lives of many.”
Donald M. Suggs, publisher and executive editor of The St. Louis American, said of Curry, “George was a true professional.” It is not widely known that Curry moonlighted at The American for about four months in 1982, while he was still employed by the Post-Dispatch, the daily paper across town. “With Robert Joiner and others, George helped to establish the foundation of our newspaper,” Suggs said.
Jake Oliver, publisher and chairman of the Baltimore-based Afro American Newspapers, who first hired Curry as NNPA editor-in-chief, said, “George was a journalist par excellence. He spent a lot of time at his craft and perfected it at a high level. And, as a result, he was able to generate national and, indeed, international respect.”
In 2000, the University of Missouri presented Curry with its Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, the same honor it had earlier bestowed on Joseph Pulitzer, Walter Cronkite, John H. Johnson and Winston Churchill.
In 2003, he was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists (NAPJ). “He has been a beacon for so many and a pivotal voice among black publishers,” NABJ President Sarah Glover said in a statement. “His strength and pursuit for the truth will carry on in the lives he touched.”
His friend Neil Foote, president of the National Black Public Relations Society, and former colleague Alvin A. Reid, sports columnist for The American, both recalled Curry’s legacy grooming young, black journalists by founding minority journalism workshops. Curry chaired a committee at the National Press Foundation, which funded more than 15 workshops modeled after the one he founded in St. Louis in 1977.
“George has made so many contributions to journalism – from the high school journalism workshops to his passionate fight for the black press,” Foote said.
Curry did a weekly commentary on Sharpton’s radio show. He appeared on the show on Friday, the day before his death. “We talked about the elections and everything – and, the next day, he died, which was shocking to me,” Sharpton said.
Sharpton said Curry’s legacy “is integrity, is boldness, is holding people – including black leaders that were his friends – accountable, and defending us when we deserved it. He held us all accountable as he also told our story, with no fear and no concern about his own career.”
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton issued a statement upon his death.
“George E. Curry was a pioneering journalist, a tireless crusader for justice, and a true agent of change,” Clinton said. “With quality reporting, creativity and skillful persuasion, he influenced countless people, including me, to think beyond their narrow experience and expand their understanding.”
When Curry died, he was raising money to fully fund Emerge News Online, a digital version of the former magazine, as well as independently distributing his weekly column to black newspapers.
“He was still fighting to revive that magazine until his last moment on earth,” TV-ONE host Roland S. Martin told the NABJ. “George Curry died with his boots on, still fighting.”
