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Updated:
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Posted: Dec. 19, 2008 |
Contact:
NABJ Communications
(866) 479-NABJ
From NYABJ President Gary Anthony Ramsay
Mark Griffith's memorial is set for
Saturday January 10, 2009 1:00 pm
St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University (116th Street & Broadway)
New York, New York
There will be an informal gathering later that evening around 7pm as Mark would have liked it.
Place: TBD but likely in the same general area for convenience.
Please mail your letters ASAP with your thoughts to Mark's family, on personal or work letterhead, in a flat unfolded envelope to:
The family of Mark R. Griffith
c/o NYABJ
2214 Frederick Douglass Blvd #234
Harlem, NY 10026
We will place all those letters in a protective sheets and put them in a binder to be given to his family on that day.
NABJ Remembers CBS News’ Mark Griffith
Broadcast producer was committed to NABJ and devoted friend
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Griffith at Washington DC Convention, 1998 - Photo by Jason Miccolo Johnson |
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 19, 2008 – The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) mourns the loss of CBS News journalist and former NABJ board member Mark Griffith, found dead of natural causes Thursday his Brooklyn residence.
Committed to what has become the nation’s largest minority journalist organization, Griffith was a welcome presence to black journalists who gathered at local, regional and national events.
"Mark was a devoted friend to NABJ, over the years he gave his time and talent to ensure our organization was in step with every technological advance," said NABJ President Barbara Ciara. "He had the ability to persuade others to love NABJ as he did. He worked hard, he played hard, but most of all during his short life on this earth...he lived."
Griffith helped organize the first and only New York City gathering of over 2,000 black journalists for the annual convention in 1989. A producer and assignment editor at CBS News, Griffith served as vice president-broadcast for the New York Association of Black Journalists before joining the national board in 1995 under NABJ President Arthur Fennell.
"Mark’s main motivation was to help make the annual convention more relevant and active for members" says close friend and former board member Meta J. Mereday. "Mark loved the business of journalism, loved people and will be deeply missed."
Griffith served on the NABJ board of directors from 1995 to1997 representing three Northeast states as regional director. His early work for the association included planning local and regional events for the local chapter and serving on its scholarship committee. Nationally, Griffith advocated minority media ownership and strengthening the associations broadcast members, including co-producing its national media awards ceremony.
"Even though I was the youngest person serving on NABJ's board with Mark, he seemed to be ageless", said R. Trina Terrell, a former student representative. "Mark was definitely the life of any party and had a way of teaching each of us the importance of celebrating life during any occasion.”"
"Mark’s wit will certainly be missed by so many people who were touched by his positive energy year after year at the NABJ conventions," said NABJ Vice President-Broadcast Kathy Times. "He had a serious side and was passionate about journalism. We miss him, but like a good journalist, Mark has left us with plenty of colorful stories to feast on."
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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