CHARLES T. MITCHELL

1932 - 2015

CHARLES T. MITCHELL, 82, of Huntington, passed away April 7, 2015, at the Emogene Dolin Jones Hospice House of Huntington. He was born Oct. 29, 1932, in Williamson, W.Va., the son of the late C.T. Mitchell Sr. and Edith Maynard Mitchell. He graduated in 1949 from Williamson High School, where he ranked second in his class. He earned a BA in journalism from Marshall University in 1953 and an MA in journalism from Marshall in 1970. As an undergraduate at Marshall, he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon social fraternity. He began his long journalism career at the Williamson Daily News, where from 1953 to 1960 he was sports editor and later city editor. In 1960 he moved to Huntington and joined the former Huntington Advertiser as a copy editor. He later served as the Advertiser's assistant city editor, city editor, executive city editor and news editor. In 1972, he left newspapering to become Director of Informational Services at Marshall. For the next 20-plus years, until he retired in 1998, he would be the university's official spokesman, working closely with the media and over the years serving as an advisor to eight Marshall Presidents. Even after his retirement, he continued as a part-time special assistant to the Marshall President from 1998 to 2000 and as a part-time member of the Public Information team at the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing, RCBI, from 2007 to 2010. He was especially proud of being a member of the team which secured legislative, gubernatorial and governing board approval to establish the Marshall University School of Medicine. Later he worked closely with Dr. Robert B. Hayes in writing and editing "$7,000 in the Bank: The Remarkable Story of Marshall University's Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine" (published in 2006). He helped found both Green Acres Regional Center for the developmentally disabled and Prestera Center, a community mental health center in Huntington. He was married twice, to the former Joan Johnson, who died in 2007, and the former Barbara Jane Billman, who died in 1995. He is survived by a son, Richard K. Mitchell, of Huntington; a daughter, Mrs. Sharon E. Mitchell, of Murfreesboro, Tenn.; an adopted son, Matthew K. Garrett (Stacy), of Huntington, and a grandson, Thomas Mitchell Garrett. There will be no services. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Green Acres Regional Center, 7830 Ohio River Rd., Lesage WV 25537.