National Association of Black Journalist’s 1st President, Chuck Stone –REMEMBERED.

Mr. Chuck Stone was always a gentleman and scholar. He was “friendly resource” to the people of North Carolina who loved him and to the nation that requires we reflect on his contributions. He is missed already as a reflective communicator.

Charles Sumner “Chuck” Stone, Jr. (July 21, 1924 – April 6, 2014)

Born	July 21, 1924 Hartford, Connecticut
Died	April 6, 2014 (aged 89) near Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army Air Forces, Tuskegee Airman
Battles/wars	World War II
Other work	newspaper editor, columnist, professor of journalism, author

Mr. Stone was a Tuskegee Airman, an American newspaper editor, columnist, professor of journalism, and author. After completing his service in World War II, Stone already had been admitted to Harvard University but chose to matriculate at Wesleyan University.^[1] In the 1940s, he was the first African-American undergraduate in several decades at Wesleyan, graduating in the class of 1948 and serving as the commencement speaker. Stone subsequently received a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Chicago.

He was the first president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ, 1975–1977). According to his brief biography on the NABJ site, “Because of his reputation for integrity, he became a trusted middleman between Philadelphia police and murder suspects, more than 75 of whom ‘surrendered’ to Stone rather than to the cops.”^[2]

As an editor at Harlem‘s New York Age, the Washington, D.C. Afro-American, and the Chicago Daily Defender, he was strongly associated with the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. He also served three years as a special assistant and speechwriter for Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. of the 22nd congressional district of New York, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. Stone later worked as a columnist for The Philadelphia Daily News from 1972 to 1991.

He taught journalism at the University of Delaware for several years.^[3] For several years, circa 1986–1988, he served as the House Advisor for the Martin Luther King Humanities House at the University of Delaware. He then became Walter Spearman Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he retired in 2005.