Former President Lived With HIV for 20 Years
Thomas Morgan III, a reporter and editor at the New York Times, Washington Post and Miami Herald who led the National Association of Black Journalists from 1989 to 1991, died Monday morning in Southampton, Mass., where he was visiting. His friend Sheila Stainback said he suffered a heart attack.
Morgan was NABJ’s first gay president, and while he did not dwell on his sexual orientation while in office, he later became an inspiration to other black gay journalists and sat on the board of New York’s Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization.
He was inducted into the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association’s Hall of Fame in 2005.
“He made us a more tolerant organization,” Marcus Mabry, then of Newsweek, said after the awards presentation. “There are those ridiculous attempts to divide. What are you black first or gay first? A human being or a child of God? The dichotomies are ridiculous.”
Under Morgan’s tenure as NABJ president, the association expanded its student projects to include a broadcast component, which today is known as NABJ TV, established NABJ “Short Courses,” formalized its fellowships to Africa, and created the NABJ Hall of Fame, Lisa Goodnight noted in an article about the Hall of Fame induction. Morgan additionally served on the programming committee for the first Unity convention in 1994, an event that boosted NABJ membership. In 1989, when Morgan became NABJ president, the organization had about 1,900 members. At last summer’s convention, it stood at 3,714.
Morgan also brought this columnist into a more active role with the organization, asking him to co-edit the organization’s newspaper, the NABJ Journal, covering the association as a watchdog and journalist would. It was in the NABJ Journal, in 1991, that the “Journal-isms” column originated. The Journal remained edited by a rank-and-file member until recently.
NABJ evicted the CIA from its job fair in 1989 and did the same to the FBI in 1991 after members were outraged by being associated with the two agencies. NABJ voted in 1989 to exclude government programs from its job fair, and it was Morgan who went to the booths and asked the agencies to leave. “The FBI is not a journalism organization. It’s inappropriate for them to be here,” Morgan said in 1991. The FBI recruited again at the NABJ convention last summer without controversy, and the CIA was at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention.
“Morgan’s singular regret was giving the New York Daily News, its workers on strike back then, NABJ’s membership list,” Katti Gray wrote in an NABJ series on its former presidents, “Committed to the Cause.” “Not that such a move was unprincipled to him, Morgan said, but it was untimely and not very smart.
“‘I was called all kinds of names. Traitor. Uncle Tom,’ he said. ‘When the dust cleared, a number of black journalists still wanted to work at the Daily News. We should not be in the business of telling anyone where to work.'”
Morgan served on NABJ’s board of directors for 10 years, and before he was president, he was treasurer, at a time when the organization was not used to handling large sums of money. In his book “The NABJ Story,” Wayne J. Dawkins describes how in 1986, Morgan “discreetly summoned four board members to his hotel room. Morgan was carrying $20,000 cash from . . . onsite convention revenues.
“He was scared. he did not have the means to secure the money in an account. A robbery or burglary at the hotel could rob NABJ of crucial funds.”
“We were journalists. We knew how to write and edit, not run an organization. It was a big experiment for us,” Morgan told Dawkins.
With what some called an idealized, member-service-oriented vision of NABJ, Morgan sometimes found himself at odds with leaders who followed. In 1997, for instance, he spoke out against a decision by the NABJ board, taken on the advice of its executive director and its lawyer, to erase the tapes of meetings in order to reduce the board’s liability. “We are journalists, not lawyers,” Morgan said. Members eventually overruled the board.
“Tom was a great servant of NABJ and a heck of a president. He was always dapper and dignified through it all. We lost a good soul and we’re all going to miss his presence and friendship,” Greg Moore, editor of the Denver Post and former NABJ board member, told Journal-isms.
Morgan, a St. Louis native and the oldest of four sons, was born to a father who worked for the Postal Service and a mother who was a schoolteacher. After finishing high school in 1969, he won an ROTC scholarship to the University of Missouri and, after his 1973 graduation, served as an Air Force officer until 1975.
He then went to the Miami Herald, and spent six years reporting and editing at the Washington Post. In 1983, Morgan went on to the New York Times, where he was a reporter, editor and took a turn on the business side. He was a Nieman fellow from 1989 to 1990.
When he retired in 1995, the Times created the Thomas Morgan Internships in Graphics, Design and Photography.
“He was always, always a gentleman. Just kind and sympathetic and thoughtful,” Times Senior Editor Sheila Rule, who administers the program, told Journal-isms. Rule said she had known Morgan since she was 14, in St. Louis, and credited Morgan with boosting her career at the Times.
When Morgan was on the metro desk in 1984, he assigned Rule a nontraditional Easter story. He suggested that she follow around a black family. After the piece appeared, A.M. Rosenthal, the editor, complimented her on the piece and before too long she was a correspondent in Africa.
Stainback said funeral arrangements have yet to be made. Among his survivors are his partner, Thomas Ciano, of Brooklyn, N.Y., where they lived. Ciano sent word that contributions in Morgan’s name would be welcome at Gay Men’s Health Crisis.
In the May 1995 issue of the NABJ Journal, Audrey Edwards asked Morgan why he wanted to be interviewed.
“I wanted a chance to share with the NABJ membership my hopes for the future. And I want members to know that AIDS is a disease no different than things like breast cancer or prostate cancer. It is simply a disease. We are all mortal, and we will all die of something,” he said.
- NABJ loses friend, mentor and advocate Thomas Morgan III (NABJ)
- Keith Boykin, keithboykin.com: Remembering Tom Morgan
- Associated Press: First openly gay president of Black Journalists group dies [Dec. 26]
- Margalit Fox, New York Times: Thomas Morgan, a Journalist and Activist, Dies at 56 [Dec. 27]
- Brandon Bain, Newsday: Thomas Morgan III, journalist, past NABJ president [Dec. 28]
- Joe Holley, Washington Post: Thomas Morgan, Journalist [Dec. 29]
Feedback: Morgan Was Wind Beneath the Wings
In 2000 at NABJ (Phoenix), I had the privilege of paying tribute in song to the Founders and Presidents of NABJ. Tom was there—front and center. At a point during my rendition of “Wind Beneath My Wings,” I left the stage and came into the audience to shake some of their hands and thank them face to face without the distraction of the stagelights. Of course, there was Sidmel [Estes-Sumpter], one of my first bosses in the business. There was Vanessa Williams, whose invitation for me to sing the year prior availed me this opportunity to pay homage one year later for this special occasion. I even got a glimpse of mentor and former NABJ VP-Broadcast Sheila Stainback, whose support of me since being one of the NABJ babies in 1991 has been unyielding.
But then I approached Tom —to ensure he received and felt my THANKS for all he was to me. The song’s lyric was landing on “. . . Did you ever know that you’re my hero? You’re everything I wish I could be . . .” I recall getting choked up as his eyes began to well. I know he got it.
I would be able to recall that moment with him last year. I shared with him that during his term, I was a college senior —not yet out of the closet — and internally tortured as to how I would marry my truth to my career. I admired the sterling example that he set for us all and knew that one day I would be courageous enough to live out loud— with integrity and grace. Six or so years later, I did and continue to look at Tom’s model for how I navigate throughout this industry. And I am blessed that I got the chance to share all of this and more with Tom (who told me he always knew. SMILE!). For sure, I “Thank God for (Tom), The Wind Beneath my Wings.”
Patrick Riley
New York
A Loving Friend and Mentor
Even though I knew that eventually God would call him home, we always joked about how we would sit out on the porch, with no teeth and rocking chairs to talk about the “good ole days of NABJ”. He was my brother, Sidney’s godfather . . . and a true kindred spirit. Our industry has lost a great voice and I have lost a loving friend and mentor who paved the way for me to become NABJ president. I will miss his smile and his guidance . . . but he will always remain in my heart and the hearts of my children and all NABJ members.
Sidmel Estes-Sumpter
President, BreakThrough Inc.
Talent Representative, Drew Berry and Associates
Media Manager, Frederick Douglass Family Foundation
Atlanta
A Pioneer and a Hero
Tom Morgan was a pioneer and a hero; a first-rate journalist and a first-class man. His courage as a black gay man at a time when homophobia was rampant among even so-called enlightened black journalists was inspirational.
He and I knew each other while I was at the New York Times Book Review, and we worked together when I was active in the New York local chapter of NABJ. Tom made me laugh and he made me think; he was always an encourager, and was one of the first people I told, not only when I was thinking of writing my memoir, but when I was moving out of journalism and into the liberal ministry. We lost touch over the years, but I never forgot Tom and I never will. May the Spirit of All Life bless and keep him, now and always.
The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, Senior Minister
The Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York
UUA Trustee, Metropolitan NY District
New York
He Invited You Along for the Ride
We will all miss Tom Morgan, the consummate journalist and NABJ leader. But I will miss Tom Morgan the good friend most of all.
Tom had a joie de vivre. He played bid whist with gusto. Going to a restaurant with Tom was great because he would urge you to be adventuresome and order with abandon.
He always invited you along for the ride. If he was at Harvard, you were there, too. If he was in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, you were there, too (or at the very least, your $20 for betting). If he, along with the NABJ leadership, was meeting with top industry executives, he would make sure you were in the room.
Tom and his partner Tom graciously opened their home to me for meals, drinks and just plain-old fashioned fun. I have many fond memories of the times we had.
After Tom told me he was HIV positive, I had a moment of clarity. I had always wondered why he was in such a rush — NABJ treasurer, NABJ president, Washington Post, New York Times, and Nieman Fellow. Tom always seemed to be in a hurry to make it to the next level. I realized he wanted to experience it all while he could.
Tom Morgan is never far away from me. On a wall in my office, there is a post card announcing the publication of Wayne Dawkins’ “Rugged Waters: Black Journalists Swim the Mainstream.” One of the photos on the card is of Tom, at some NABJ dinner I bet. He is wearing a bow tie. I guess I forgot to mention Tom was a fashionista before it was cool.
We are better people and better journalists because of Tom Morgan. And we will always be there with a hand extended to help the next generation of journalists of color. That’s what Tom would have expected. No, that’s what Tom would have demanded.
Pamela Moreland
Assistant Managing Editor
San Jose Mercury News
Dec. 27, 2007
Fun-Loving, Inquisitive and Elegant
We were friends and classmates at University of Missouri’s J-School and, happily, our paths crossed several times later (Washington Post, Nieman). He was fun-loving, inquisitive and elegant, even in Mizzou’s disheveled newsroom. He was one of the journalists who put so much back into our profession. He will be missed, remembered and thanked for the many others he helped along the way.
Margaret Engel
Managing Editor
The Newseum
Washington
Dec. 29, 2007
MESSAGE BOARDS: Feel free to e-mail Richard Prince to comment about Tom Morgan, indicating whether the comment may be published.
Deron Snyder Moves from Sports to Editorial Page
After 22 years “in the so-called ‘toy department,'” Deron Synder, sports columnist at Gannett’s Fort Myers (Fla.) News-Press, told readers on Monday he has been reassigned.
“My new job entails writing editorials, serving on our Editorial Board and helping readers form communities on news-press.com,” he wrote.
“On the surface, such a position deals with issues far greater and more serious than sports. Sports seems like fun-and-games compared to the life-and-death of politics, education, poverty and crime,” he continued.
“In actuality, though, sports encompasses that grave stuff, too.
“I chose to cover sports for a living because I figured it was the next-best thing to playing, providing a role in the game as a bridge between fans and athletes. After two decades as a conduit, I’ve learned the gap isn’t nearly as wide as most folks think.
“Sports is entertaining, but hardly an escape. There are too many other people involved — whether you’re a fan, athlete or media —to lose sight of real life.
“. . . The compliments I cherish most have come from women who aren’t big sports fans, yet say they enjoy my column. That means I’ve been successful in conveying that people —not games — make sports go round.”