Wilbert A. Tatum, 76, Ex-Amsterdam News Publisher, Is Dead
By Jennifer 8. Lee
Wilbert A. Tatum, whose 25-year leadership of The Amsterdam News made his name nearly synonymous with the paper’s, died on Thursday while vacationing with his wife, Susan, in Dubrovnik, Croatia. He was 76.
He died after multiple organ shutdown around 1 a.m. local time, said Elinor Tatum, his daughter who had succeeded him as publisher in 1996 when she was 26. Ms. Tatum said her father was a diabetic and had been in a wheelchair.
Mr. Tatum held multiple roles over his time at The Amsterdam News, including editor, publisher, chairman and chief executive. Among the more polarizing decisions of his leadership: defending Tawana Brawley against official findings that the sexual assault she said she had been through was a hoax; printing the name of the Central Park jogger who was raped in 1989; and running editorials against Mayor Edward I. Koch in a box on the front page week after week under the headline “Why Koch Should Resign.”
When asked by his daughter why he did not run for political office, he told her he thought he could accomplish more where he was, running one of the nation’s oldest continuously published black newspapers.
SOURCE: NYTIMES
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