Wednesday, December 3, 1997
Death of Sentinel publisher mourned
OBITUARY:
Leader of African American community in L.A. touched many lives
throughout his careerBy Victor Patton
Daily Bruin Contributor
This Monday, members of Los Angeles’s African American community
visited the headquarters of the Los Angeles Sentinel to give
condolences and express grief and devastation at the loss of one of
the most respected members of the African American community,
Sentinel publisher and chief executive officer Kenneth Thomas.
Thomas passed away Friday morning from respiratory distress. He was
68.
"Ken Thomas proved the truth of the statement, ‘The pen is
mightier than the sword.’ He proved the truth of the statement of
Jesus, ‘You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you
free,’" said Rev. Cecil Murray of South Central Los Angeles’s First
African Methodist Episcopal Church, in memorial of Thomas.
"Ken and his best friend Jennifer are liberators in the best
sense of the word," continued Murray. "The truth they ignited will
endure beyond life and death, for it starts a fire that burns
eternally in the hearts of all of God’s children."
Thomas became involved with the Los Angeles Sentinel in 1983 on
behalf of Ruth Washington, wife of Leon Washington, who founded the
Sentinel in 1933. At the time of Thomas’s arrival, the paper was in
a state of disarray and behind the times in technology, remembered
Virgie Washington, religious editor to the Sentinel.
Thomas, in turn, brought the Sentinel up to operating standards
by supplying numerous new computers and moving the newspaper
headquarters from East 43rd and Central to the heart of the African
American community at 3800 Crenshaw Blvd., near the cultural and
art mecca, Leimert Park.
Thomas’s involvement with the L.A. community goes all the way
back to the turbulent days of the Watts riots. Thomas defended and
succeeded in freeing the young men who were falsely accused of
inciting the riots.
Danny Bakewell, president of the Los Angeles Brotherhood
Crusade, knew Thomas for over 20 years.
He brought a sense of decency, a sense of vigilance and always a
sense of pride and honor in representing African Americans, making
sure that the story of African American life was portrayed with a
face which was different than that portrayed in the white
community: a face of family; a face of justice; a face of people
longing to be free but struggling against great odds, Bakewell said
of Thomas.
Bakewell further stated that while the public persona of Thomas
was a "very hard-hitting, focused, attentive businessman," he was
at the same time a "very gregarious kind of guy, very fun-filled,
and very loving, and very few people knew that side of him."
Thomas served as a delegate for the Ohio state and California
state bar associations, and as former vice president of both the
Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association and the National Lawyer’s
Guild. Thomas also served as an advisor to the Los Angeles Fair
Housing Counsel and the NAACP, and was a member of the board of the
Los Angeles Urban League.
Thomas, besides being an astute publisher, lawyer and
businessman, also organized events for the community such as annual
Christmas parties for children and annual banquets for mothers.
According to Bakewell, he was by no means an "absentee publisher,"
but one who "changed the newspaper from one which published news to
one which made news."
Brik Booker, chief administrative officer of the Sentinel,
thought of Thomas not only as a boss, but a "friend and surrogate
father." Booker went further to say, "Kenneth was always ready to
fight the good fight for the community. … His legacy really
extends far past the Los Angeles Sentinel. … I cannot convey what
he meant to the community with mere words. I think many people for
his accomplishments view him as being a hero, but there are so many
cases in which he was really an unseen and unsung hero, and he
preferred it that way. He didn’t care about the glory and the
credit; he cared about what needed to be done in the interests of
the black community. The good fight must go on, but we have lost
one of our greatest warriors."
Geraldine Washington, president of the Los Angeles NAACP,
described Thomas as "a stalwart for anything which was in the best
interests of the African American community; he was very much
concerned about freedom, fairness, the opportunity for all people
to enjoy the provisions of the Constitution, and worked tirelessly
to present that point of view.
"The thing that I admired most about him was the fact that he
was always interested in the pursuit of equal opportunity and
justice, and that’s the way that he lived his life, through his
profession as a lawyer and his work with the Los Angeles Sentinel.
This community, city and state will certainly miss Kenneth Thomas.
His passing has left such a void, and it is certainly going to be
difficult to fill that void."
Thomas is survived by his wife Jennifer and daughter Maria.
Friends and family can pay their respects at Angela’s Funeral Home
on Crenshaw Boulevard today from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and at the
First African Methodist Episcopal Church at 2270 Harvard St. in
South Central Los Angeles today at 9 a.m. Funeral services will
begin 10 a.m. Friday at the First African Methodist Episcopal
Church. Thomas will be laid to rest at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood
Hills.
Kenneth Thomas