The Black Press lost one of the last of its living giants with the passing of Garth Reeves Sr., publisher emeritus of the Miami Times newspaper, on Monday, November 25. He was 100 years old.
His name is spoken alongside the great men who created outlets to chronicle the black experience through their respective publications: John Sengstacke Abbott of the Chicago Defender, Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier, and Abbott’s nephew Robert Sengstacke, who ultimately published the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburgh Courier (as the New Pittsburgh Courier).
“Mr. Reeves led a remarkable life promoting equality and civil rights as a veteran, journalist, community activist, and as owner of the Miami Times,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said in a statement.
He was such a staple within his community that the City of Miami Commission honored Reeves on the occasion of his 100th birthday last February.
“He leaves behind a proud and lasting legacy that will be remembered for many years to come,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jean Monestime. “[He] used his position as publisher of the Miami Times to advance the cause of civil rights and equality.”
Reeves had a connection to the region through former Ferguson Police Chief Delrish Moss, a Miami native and veteran of its law enforcement community. He was selected to lead the department into its next chapter following unrest in response to the death of Michael Brown.
“This man is truly a legend in South Florida history,” said Moss, who returned to the Florida region last year, via Facebook. “He has given the black community a voice like no other. I was privileged for a time to write a weekly contribution to the Miami Times. Thanks in great part to Mr. Reeves and his daughter, who preceded him in death, south Florida got to hear another side of my voice.”
Started by his father in 1923 as a tabloid that provided a platform for issues facing the African-American community, the Miami Times was already a family business when Reeves went to work there as a teenager. Aside from service in the U.S. Army during World War II, he is often quoted as proudly proclaiming that it was “the only job I ever had.”
Garth Coleridge Reeves Sr. was born February 12, 1919 in Nassau, Bahamas, the only son of Henry E. Sigismund Reeves and Rachel Cooper. His family moved to Miami when he was four months old. His father began printing the publication on a small hand press in his home.
Garth Reeves began working for the Miami Times as a teen. He returned to the paper after graduating from what would late become Florida A&M University and his military service. By the time he retired in 1994, it was a trusted voice used to express the concerns of the black community and advocate on their behalf.
“Over the years we represented ourselves in our own image, and today we are still doing it,” Reeves said in a 2016 interview with the Miami Herald. “We fight our community’s fights without sacrificing integrity in any way.”
In 2017 he was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame.
“These valiant soldiers without swords not only excelled in their chosen field, they also brought others along with them. We stand on their shoulders,” Sarah Glover, then NABJ president, said in her announcement that he would receive the award.
Reeves was among the founding publishers of the NNPA, an organization formed by Sengstacke. Then known as the Negro Newspaper Publishers Association and later renamed National Newspaper Publishers Association, NNPA has represented the collective of the Black Press across the nation for nearly 80 years.
The paper is a leading publication among the NNPA member newspapers and most recently earned the distinguished title of “Best Black Newspaper in America” in 2018 and 2019.
“There are many people in Miami who will remember how Reeves helped to make life just a bit better, kept the police from continuing to attack and kill African-American men, mobilized the African-American vote and raised the consciousness of more than a generation,” former Miami Times Managing Editor Mohamed Hamaludin said in a touching first-person reflection on life and legacy of his former employer and mentor.
“I am one of those who is grateful – especially this Thanksgiving season – that I met and got to know him. Without the job offer at his newspaper, my career in journalism would have ended. Instead, I was allowed to grow in a different environment and to so advance personally and professionally that I can safely say that all that I am, all that I have become, in the U.S., I owe to him, as I told him when I called to express my condolences on his daughter’s passing.”
The plan was for his son Garth Jr. to assume the role of publisher, just as his father had done before him. But when he passed away from colon cancer at 30, the elder Reeves’ daughter Rachel Reeves stepped in as publisher upon her father’s retirement and built upon its rich history.
With her death in September at the age of 69, his health was said to have quickly declined. His cause of death is listed as complications from pneumonia, but perhaps seeing his last living child transition played a role.
But, as his grandson, the last survivor of the Reeves dynasty, assumes his place as publisher, the mission will continue.
