In Memorian
Gerald M. Boyd: The first Black managing editor of the New York Times, Boyd was instrumental in coverage that won the newspaper three Pulitzers: for articles about the first World Trade Center bombing, for a series on children of poverty, and for a series on race relations in the United States. It was a lifelong dream of Boyd to be editor of the Times, but that dream was cut short when he was forced to resign, along with editor Howell Raines, after instances of fabrication and plagiarism by a young reporter, Jayson Blair, were discovered. Boyd died in November after a battle with lung cancer. He was 56.
Ed Bradley: The first Black White House correspondent for CBS News, Bradley also broke the color barrier as the first Black correspondent for “60 Minutes,” where he spent the past 25 years. His news pieces ranged from interviews with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to basketball and golf icons Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Throughout his almost 40-year journalism career, Bradley won 19 Emmy awards and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award last year by the National Association of Black Journalists. Bradley died in November. He was 65.
Dr. William O. Bright: A longtime professor of linguistics at UCLA, Bright studied American Indian languages and worked to preserve the language of California’s Karuk tribe. He was the author of more than 200 books, articles and reviews and served as editor of Language, the journal of the Linguistic Society of America. Bright retired from UCLA in 1988 after 29 years of teaching. He died on Oct. 15 at the age of 78.
Dr. Clinton Bristow: The president of Alcorn State University in Mississippi, Bristow was also president of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. He has been credited for doubling the percentage of Alcorn students attending graduate/professional school, improving retention and establishing a faculty research incentive program to enhance research in the life sciences. Before becoming president of Alcorn State, Bristow served as president of the Chicago Board of Education, dean of the College of Business at Chicago State University and vice president at Olive-Harvey College in Chicago. Bristow died in August. He was 57 years old.
Octavia Butler: Widely considered the first and best Black female science fiction writer, Butler became the first such writer to earn a “genius” grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (1995). Her book, Parable of the Talents, won the 2000 Nebula award, science fiction’s highest prize. In all, she produced about a dozen books, essays and short stories. Butler died in February. She was 58 years old.
Bebe Moore Campbell: A best-selling author, Campbell often set her novels in Los Angeles covering race relations, relationships and mental illness. Some of Campbell’s most popular books include Brothers and Sisters and Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine, for which she received an NAACP Image Award for Literature. Her journalistic articles appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and Ebony magazine. Campbell died in November. She was 56 years old.
