Obituaries

Obituaries published in the May 2024 edition of the Texas Press Messenger.

JOHN DAVID KUCIFER

NAVASOTA – John David Kucifer, retired editor and publisher who had a long career working for newspapers throughout Texas, died April 5. He was 88.

Born in an orphanage in Pilot Point, he was adopted by George and Lilly Kucifer, who raised him in the Houston and Orange area. He attended the University of Houston while working in the advertising department at Joske's in Houston. There he met his future wife, Shirley Mullins. Not long after their marriage in 1956, he was drafted and served three years in the Army.

Following discharge, he worked briefly as advertising director for 21 Gibson store franchises before turning to the newspaper business in Sweetwater. After several years in Sweetwater, he went to work for the newspaper in Claremore, Oklahoma, before joining the Kilgore News Herald as editor and publisher. He continued his work there until retiring in 2002.

In 2004, he came out of retirement to take over as editor and publisher of the Navasota Examiner, where he retired for good in 2009.

Kucifer was a member of numerous civic organizations over the years including the Lions Club, United Way, American Cancer Society, and Salvation Army advisory council. In 1988, under his leadership, the city of Sweetwater won the All-America City Award.

He also assisted with the Little League baseball program in Dumas and other youth organizations as his sons grew up.

The family had several church homes over the years and at the time of his death, he was a member of the First Baptist Church of Navasota.

He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Shirley, four sons, four grandchildren, three great grandchildren and other relatives.

GLENN McCUTCHEN

PORTLAND, OR – Glenn McCutchen, longtime journalist and newspaper publisher, died on April 5 in Portland, Oregon, after a brief battle with cancer at the age of 80. 

Retiring as publisher of the Longview News-Journal in 2008, McCutchen had a storied journalism career that took him across the American South. He began at the Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer, staying three months before joining the Atlanta Constitution and starting a 42-year career with Cox Enterprises. As he worked his way up from cub reporter at the Constitution to executive editor at the merged Journal-Constitution to publisher of Cox’s Texas newspapers the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, Lufkin Daily News and Longview News-Journal, his career touched luminaries ranging from Jimmy Carter to Vince Dooley to George W. Bush. While at the helm of the Journal-Constitution, the newspaper received two Pulitzer Prizes (and at least as many lawsuits). 

In his career at the Constitution, he detoured into the computer department and inherited the reference library and photographic staff for the Constitution and its sister morning paper, the Journal. The two publications were merged in 1982, and Glenn became managing editor in 1985, moving up to executive editor four years later. 

He was known for his kindness, professionalism and backbone — all celebrated by former colleagues when the news of Glenn’s death emerged on social media. He was credited with helping drive diversity in the newsroom, giving many men and women from all walks of life their start in journalism. 

After moving to Texas in 1990 to become editor and publisher of the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, he brought his backbone to a new state, shaking up the status quo by not backing down when under pressure to pull the comic strip For Better or For Worse when it introduced a gay character in 1993. 

After three years in Nacogdoches, he became the publisher of the Lufkin Daily News, also retaining oversight of the Nacogdoches paper. In 1997, he was named publisher of the Longview News-Journal, with managerial responsibility for the Marshall News-Messenger and the weekly Jefferson Jimplecute. In 2000, the News-Journal was the only newspaper in the state of Texas to endorse Al Gore instead of then-Texas governor George W. Bush for President. In the furor that followed, Glenn demonstrated one of the unwavering principles that guided his life: You must do what you think is right, no matter how unpopular. 

Outside of ruffling feathers and speaking truth to power through the printed page, Glenn was active in every community in which he lived, including serving on numerous non-profit boards as well as the chambers of commerce boards in Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Longview. He was board chairman of the Longview Museum of Fine Art for two years. In 2004, he received that museum’s Angel Award, and in 2008, the museum named him Advisory Board Member of the Year. LeTourneau University in Longview honored Glenn with the Henry Gossett Jr. Community Partner Award. He was active in Rotary Clubs in Nacogdoches, Lufkin, Longview and Frisco, where he lived in retirement, including serving as board president of the Rotary Club of Longview as well as District Secretary. 

A native of Columbus, Georgia, where he grew up and graduated high school, he attended Oklahoma Baptist University to study photojournalism on a work scholarship. On March 7, 1965, during his junior year, he watched television coverage of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Glenn and two other OBU students decided to leave campus immediately and join a second march. While he didn’t make it — running out of money near Fort Smith, Arkansas — this experience informed his future. Glenn was particularly inspired by Ralph McGill, the civil rights-crusading editor of the Constitution, who showed that journalists could make a difference and enact positive change on the issues that matter most. 

In 2022, Glenn moved to Portland, Oregon, to be closer to two of his children, and his only grandchild. He joined Westminster Presbyterian Church, continuing his lifelong habit of finding a church family wherever he lived.

Survivors include four children, one grandchild and other relatives.

A memorial service was held April 27 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland. The family requests memorials be made to Westminster Presbyterian Church of Portland, Oregon, or Rotary International.

LORI CHRISTINE HAWKINS

AUSTIN – Veteran Austin American-Statesman reporter Lori Hawkins, who chronicled business news for the publication for more than three decades, died March 28 after complications from a medical procedure. She was 57.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Hawkins grew up in New Mexico and other states. She graduated from the University of Arizona, where she worked on the staff of the Daily Wildcat student newspaper, and she studied Spanish at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico.

After graduating from college, she worked for Reuters, first in Mexico

City, then in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Monterey, Mexico. She returned

to the United States in 1991 to take a job as a news reporter for the San

Antonio Light. After the San Antonio Light closed, she worked as a producer with KTSA in San Antonio and later for the Houston Business Journal before joining the Statesman in 1993.

Hawkins' byline appeared regularly in the Statesman for 30 years. Always ahead of the news curve, she documented the advance of high technology in Austin, which came to define the city's economic and cultural rise. Starting in 1994, she reported on software, biotech, startups, real estate and financial services. In 1996, Hawkins became the Statesman's technology reporter.

She most recently worked to cover retail in Austin, but she often assisted with coverage of business news outside that beat, and her expertise was sought by many in the newsroom.

Her most recent Statesman story, dated March 29, reported about Austin billionaire John Paul DeJoria's bet on artificial intelligence as he launches a new company.

She was remembered by her colleagues as a mentor willing to share her experience and advice as well as a leader who could engage others and build networks.

"She was an expert on the region’s business and tech evolution, and never lost sight of Austin’s complicated history and context," said KUT General Manager Debbie Hiott, who worked with Hawkins for more than two decades in the Statesman newsroom, including as executive editor.

Hawkins is survived by her husband, Paul Sunby, two children, her parents and other relatives.

A celebration of life was held April 14 at Guero’s Taco Bar Live Oak Garden in Austin.

Memorials may be made to Austin Pets Alive! To make a donation, visit https://www.austinpetsalive.org and look for the Give in Tribute page.

JAMES WASHINGTON

ATLANTA, GA – James Washington, the president and general manager of The Atlanta Voice and publisher emeritus of The Dallas Weekly and the 2019 National Association of Black Journalists Legacy Award winner, died April 2. He was 73.

A 1971 graduate of Southern University in Baton Rouge with a degree in English and instructional media, he earned a master's in journalism degree from the the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1973).

Washington was respected as an expert across multiple fields, including public relations, corporate communications, advertising, ethnic marketing, broadcast, print news, and digital publishing. He was a pioneering figure in Black media leadership and ownership.

Washington founded Focus Communications Group in 1980, a public relations and advertising agency. He also worked as a public relations leader for the then-Dallas Ballet and the American Heart Association National Center.

His early impact in showing the power of Black leadership in the news and media industries was recognized early, as he was named “Man of the Year” in 1986 by the Dallas Metropolitan Club of Negro Business and Professional Women. 

Washington acquired the Dallas Weekly in 1989, which is known as the largest and most widely read Black newsweekly in North Texas. For many years, he served as both the CEO of the Dallas Weekly and the president and general manager of the Atlanta Voice Newspaper, the largest audited Black community newspaper in Georgia. 

In addition to his constant efforts to transform the landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion in both communications and journalism, Washington was a resounding voice for all members of the Black community and a stellar community activist. For his community impact, Washington was honored by organizations such as the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, The Links, Inc., United Way, Dallas Independent School District, Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, Daniel “Chappie” James Learning Center, the NAACP, the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, the Dallas Museum of Arts, and the State Fair of Texas.

Washington twice served on the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce board, the Dallas Arboretum, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, and the National Newspaper Publishers Association. He was a former tri-chair of Dallas’ Commission on Race Relations and the Dallas Together Forum, and the Federal Reserve Bank’s Small Business and Agriculture Advisory Committee in Dallas.

Washington is survived by his wife Janis L. Ware, publisher of The Atlanta Voice and 2021 NABJ Legacy Award winner, two children, three grandchildren and other relatives 

A celebration of life service was held April 10 at Elizabeth Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.