Virginia publisher was pioneer in black journalism

Founding editor/publisher of the Richmond Free Press Raymond Harold Boone died last week at age 76 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Noted for his brash opposition to the Jim Crow laws of the South, where he lived and worked for more than 60 years in journalism, Boone championed democratic values in his writing and activism. His wife of 47 years, Jean Patterson Boone, will continue publication of the Richmond Free Press.

Boone built the Free Press into one of the largest weekly newspapers in Virginia and used the paper to crusade for varied causes, including opening the doors of state and local government to black- and minority-owned businesses.

Boone’s advocacy prompted Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones to set a 40 percent goal for minority business inclusion on major city projects.

Boone’s advocacy extended to national issues as well. Last year, he announced the Free Press would no longer use the name Washington Redskins for the Washington NFL franchise, because the name is offensive to Native Americans.

He also allowed members of the Occupy Richmond movement to camp out on his front lawn after the mayor forced them out of a public park. The mayor was Boone’s next door neighbor.

Boone was educated in a segregated school system in Suffolk, Va., and credited this education with spurring his success in life. He decided to pursue journalism after one of his teachers praised his writing. At East Suffolk High School, he founded a student newspaper and yearbook.

He began his journalism career covering sports at black high schools in the Suffolk News-Herald. His stories there made it out of the “colored pages” onto the front page of the sports section, the first for a black writer in that region.

He wrote for the paper until he transferred from Norfolk State University to Boston University. In Boston, he continued his writing, working as city editor for the Boston Chronicle and as a reporter for the Quincy Patriot-Ledger.

Shortly after graduation, Boone went to work for the Baltimore Afro-American and became the White House reporter at what was then one of the largest Black-owned papers in the country.

In 1965, he was relocated to Richmond and became the editor of the Afro-American’s Richmond edition. He became active in voter rights issues and helped elect the first black to Virginia’s General Assembly since Reconstruction.

Boone also participated in efforts to train blacks for careers in journalism.

He became vice president of the Afro-American chain, supervising the reporter and Roxbury native William Worthy, whom he sent to Iran to cover the revolution after the overthrow of the Shah.

In 1981, Boone began teaching journalism at Howard University in Washington. In 1992 he returned to Richmond to start the Richmond Free Press.

Along with his wife and daughter, survivors include his son, Raymond H. Boone Jr., Free Press director of account resolution and new business development; his grandson, Raymond H. Boone III; a sister-in-law, Phyllis Riley; seven aunts; two uncles; a half-brother, Thurman Boone of Suffolk; four half-sisters, Geneva B. Boone, of Hopewell, Geraldine Boone Clark of Richmond, and Ira Boone and Lolethia Boone, both of Suffolk, and many other cousins, nieces and nephews.