Pictured are Call and Post Associate Publisher and Editor Connie Harper and family spokesperson Adam Trumbo, a nephew of the Civil rights advocate and longtime editor of Ohio's oldest and most prominent Black newspaper. Harper died Friday following a brief illness
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog. Tel: 216-659-0473. (Kathy Wray Coleman is a 20-year investigative and political journalist and legal reporter who trained for 17 years under five different editors at the Call and Post Newspaper, Ohio's most prominent Black press)
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
(Editor's note: Cleveland Urban News.Com led all media in breaking the story on the death of Connie Harper. Cleveland Urban News.Com salutes Cleveland journalism legend Constance "Connie" Harper)
CLEVELAND, Ohio- The family of Call and Post Assoc. Publisher and Exec. Editor Connie Harper released a statement today on the death of the Civil Rights advocate and longtime editor of Ohio's oldest and most prominent Black newspaper.
Harper 81, of suburban Cleveland, died Friday at a Dayton, Ohio hospital after falling into a coma after becoming ill on Sunday at the homecoming of her Alma mater, Central State University.
"It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I announce the death of my aunt, Constance (Connie) Harper, associate publisher and editor of the Call and Post Newspaper," said Adam Trumbo, 44, Harper's nephew and one of the five grown children of Harper's sister, Sara J. Harper, a retired Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals Judge, and her husband, George Trumbo, a retired Cleveland Municipal Court judge.
"She passed away last night surrounded by family and close friends," the press release also says.
"My mother, Judge Sara J. Harper, I, and the entire Harper-Trumbo family would like to thank the doctors, nurses and staff at Miami Valley Hospital for the care and concern that they showed my aunt and our family during this most difficult time," the younger Trumbo said.
Trumbo went on to say that Harper's family is "humbled by the outpouring of love, support and prayers we have received from the nation."
"My aunt’s greatest joy was sharing with others the success, concerns and struggles of Cleveland’s Black community as associate publisher and editor of the Call and Post Newspaper," said Trumbo.
Funeral arrangements are pending, though it is likely that Harper's funeral will be at the prestigious Olivet Institutional Baptist Church on Cleveland's east side where she was an active member.
A spokesperson for the family told Cleveland Urban News.Com that the family will release another statement on Harper in coming days.
Harper is also survived by another sister, and a host of nephews, nieces, cousins, close friends and associates.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
