Robert H. Gordon

Robert H. Gordon, former managing editor of The Clarion Ledger and executive editor of the Hattiesburg American, died June 30, 2007. He was 69.
Gordon, a resident of the Reservoir area in Rankin County, had been retired since 1989 as the result of heart problems stemming from a major heart attack suffered two years earlier.
A celebration of his life will be today at 2:30 pm at St. Mark's United Methodist Church. Visitation will begin at 1:30 p.m. today at the church. Wright & Ferguson Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.
Gordon is survived by his wife of 40 years, the former Jimmie Ray Currie of Jackson. Other survivors include a brother, James W. Gordon of Maryville, Tenn.; his mother-in-law, Ruth Lumpkin, of Jackson; a niece, Christina Lueders and her son, Brandon, of West Palm, Fla.; a nephew, Joshua Currie and wife, Tara, and their son Liam, of Flowood.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Sarah and Clifton Gordon, and sister, Sue Gordon Freeman.
Gordon began his career when he was hired as a reporter for the now-defunct State Times in Jackson in 1960 on his way home from the University of Mississippi. As a reporter in the 1960s, Gordon covered many of the major civil rights clashes in the Southeast before becoming an editor in the early 1970s. He became a reporter for United Press International in Atlanta in 1961.
For the next few years, he spent much of his time covering the civil rights movement, particularly Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s major Birmingham campaign in 1962-63. He was among the first reporters on the scene following the church bombing that claimed the lives of four young black girls. In 1964, he transferred to UPI's Jackson bureau. He covered the Freedom Summer campaign and spent much of the year in the Philadelphia area where three civil rights volunteers were slain. He was beaten by a mob in Grenada, while covering that city's first school desegregation in 1966.
Gordon covered the Mississippi Legislature and politics, among other stories, for UPI before being named UPI bureau manager in Columbia, S.C., in 1966. He was a specialist on the South for UPI in its coverage of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, including some of the rioting in the city park. He was part of UPI's team covering both 1972 conventions.
Gordon became North Carolina manager for UPI in 1971 and was named regional editor for UPI in its Washington bureau in 1973. His last story as a reporter was coverage of the House Judiciary Committee's hearings on impeachment of President Nixon. In 1974, he was named metro editor of The News and Observer, the capitol city daily newspaper in Raleigh, N.C. He headed that newspaper's local and state news coverage until 1977, when he was named managing editor of the Jackson Daily News. He kept that position after Gannett Co. Inc., bought the newspaper in 1981, and then was named as managing editor of The Clarion Ledger in 1982. He held that position when in 1983; The Clarion Ledger was named to Gannett's top award for outstanding achievement by a newspaper.
In 1984, he became editorial director, in charge of the editorial pages of both the morning and afternoon newspapers in Jackson. In 1986, he was named executive editor of The Hattiesburg American. In June of the following year, Gordon suffered a major heart attack while jogging in a Jackson park, keeping him away from his office for months. In early 1988, he returned to The Clarion Ledger as associate editor, a position he held until forced by health to retire.
Gordon was a native of McComb and was feature editor of his high school newspaper at McComb High School. He is a former member of the boards of Piney Woods Country Life School and the Metropolitan YMCA, among other positions.
Gordon was an active member of St. Mark's United Methodist Church and served on its administrative board, as a lay delegate to the Mississippi Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and as a member of the conference Communications Commission. For some years he maintained the computer systems at St. Mark's and was a founder of Bridges, a color magazine featuring St. Mark's.
Gordon was the recipient of the 1994 Silver EM Award, presented by the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association for outstanding contributions to journalism.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be sent to the Pastor's Discretionary Fund at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 400 Grant's Ferry Road, Brandon, MS 39047, or to a charity of your preference.