Chuck Stone, the Walter Spearman Professor of Journalism Emeritus at the University of North Carolina, died on April 6 at an assisted living facility in Chapel Hill. He was 89 years old.
Professor Stone was a native of St. Louis but spent most of his early years in Connecticut. During World War II, he trained as a Tuskegee Airman as a navigator. After the war, he enrolled at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After graduating in 1948, he earned a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Chicago.
Professor Stone spent much of his career as a journalist at several Black-owned newspapers. In 1972, he was hired as the first Black columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News.
In 1985, Professor Stone began his academic career at the University of Delaware. In 1991 he joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and taught there for 14 years. During his time at Chapel Hill, Professor Stone collaborated with The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education compiling a number of directories of African Americans who held endowed professorships at U.S. colleges and universities.
I had the privilege of meeting him once. He was gracious, kind and thoughtful.