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Updated: Saturday, November 25, 2006
Published: Monday, August 7, 2006 |
Contact:
NABJ Communications
(866) 479-NABJ
NABJ saddened over the loss of Gerald M. Boyd,
former New York Times managing editor
WASHINGTON, DC November 24, 2006 The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is saddened today as we mourn the death of member and pioneering editor Gerald M. Boyd.
Boyd, who was the first African-American managing editor of The New York Times and presided over teams that won nine Pulitzer prizes, led long and distinguished career in journalism, rising from a copy clerk in St. Louis to White House correspondent and then senior editor of the most prestigious paper in America.
During his tenure and under his leadership, the Times won Pulitzer prizes for stories on the first World Trade center bombing, poverty and the stunning series on Race in America. Boyd would achieve even greater acclaim for his leadership of the Times during the September 11th attacks, which earned the paper six additional Pulitzer prizes.
"Gerald was a passionate, focused journalist whose tenacity and dedication served as role models for us all," said NABJ President Bryan Monroe, vice president and editorial director of Ebony and Jet magazines. For NABJ, Gerald was family. We will miss our brother, our colleague, our friend.
Boyd was very active in NABJ, spoke at the 2003 convention in Dallas and was chosen as NABJ's Journalist of the Year in 2001. He and his wife Robin Stone also established a $2,500 scholarship for NABJ students.
Perhaps the most important thing about Gerald is that for all the great work he did in the newsroom winning Pulitzer Prizes, shaping the Times he still saw the importance of training the next generation of journalists, said NABJ Vice President of Print Ernie Suggs. "He was so accessible, so willing to impart the knowledge that he had gathered to the rest of is. He will be missed.
An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the nation, with more than 4,100 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.
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