Marjorie Brower Parham

1918 - 2021

Marjorie Brower Parham

Cincinnati - Marjorie May Brower Parham was born February 12, 1918 in Batavia, Ohio to the late James Brower and Estelle Harvey Brower. She was the only child born to this union.

Marjorie attended elementary and high school in Batavia, Ohio. She attended Wilberforce University, the University of Cincinnati, and Chase School of Business desiring to major in business. She hoped to earn a business degree, but teachers tried to move her into education or nursing, lines of work in which she had no interest.

She dropped out of college, and at 19 married William Spillers, and they had a son, William Jr. The marriage ended in divorce. She then worked at a machine shop in Lockland, Ohio. In 1946, she began working with the U.S. Veterans Administration in Cincinnati, where she met and subsequently married Gerald Porter in 1954.

In 1955, Porter opened the Cincinnati Herald and in 1961 the Dayton Tribune which Marjorie ran until the tragic death of her husband in 1963. At this time, she closed the Dayton Tribune and focused her efforts on continuing the Cincinnati Herald. It was during this time she met and later married Hartwell Parham, who died in 1981.

She was appointed to the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees by Governor Jim Rhodes and served over 13 years including serving as secretary of the Board. She served as Treasurer of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, Chair of the Board at Cincinnati Technical College and received the keys to the cities of Silverton and Cincinnati. She was a faithful member of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Evanston along with being an active member of Les Birdies Golf Club, Cincinnati Drifter's Inc, Women in Communications, and Iota Phi Lambda Business Women's Sorority.

She retired from the Cincinnati Herald in 1993 and ultimately sold the paper to Sesh Communications in 1996 but remained as Publisher Emerita. She received honors and awards too numerous to name, but a few include being inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame along with the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame and named as Great Living Cincinnatian in 2007. On her 102nd birthday the City of Cincinnati re-named the portion of Lincoln Avenue in front of the old Cincinnati Herald in Walnut Hills, Marjorie Parham Way.

She passed away Wednesday morning, April 14, 2021, at Cottingham Retirement Home. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by one son William Spillers, Jr., foster sister Gwen Rhodes, and companion John H. Leahr.

Those left to cherish memories include granddaughter, Dr. Rhonda Spillers Washington of West Chester, Ohio; grandson, Edmund Spillers (La'Leatha) of Grand Rapids, Michigan; niece, Sandra Samson of Dayton, Ohio; six great-grandsons, Alexander Washington, Aaron Washington, Andrew Washington, Adam Washington, Avery Washington, Peyton Spillers; and one great-granddaughter AnnMaria Marjorie Washington; and a host of other friends.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to National Association of Black Journalists.

Services will be held Friday, April 23, 2021 at Spring Grove Cemetery Event

Center with visitation at 10am and services following at noon.

Marjorie Parham on YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/skd7JPQi-RI