Obituary

Former SF Giants Owner Peter Magowan, 76

Published

5 years ago

February 1, 2019

Peter Magowan, the lifelong San Francisco Giants fan who formed the ownership group that kept the team in San Francisco with a sparkling waterfront ballpark, died Sunday after a battle with cancer. He was 76.

Magowan was a fan ever since going to games at the Polo Grounds in New York and then played a critical role in the team’s success over the past quarter-century.

“During a tenuous period for the franchise, Peter stepped up and led the group that purchased the Giants and kept them in San Francisco,” commissioner Rob Manfred said. “With groundbreaking vision, he then guided the effort that resulted in a ballpark that became a landmark for the city. In his 16 seasons of leadership, Peter oversaw a winning, civic-minded ballclub that represented the spirit of San Francisco. The foundation created under his direction helped make the Giants the model club they remain today.”

Magowan helped form the ownership group that bought the franchise for $100 million from Bob Lurie in December 1992 to keep the team from moving to Tampa Bay. One of his first moves was signing Barry Bonds to a six-year, $43.5 million free agent deal even before he formally completed the purchase of the team.

In a tweet Sunday night, Bonds shared his thoughts on Magowan and what he meant to San Francisco.

“I’m extremely saddened by the passing of Peter Magowan. I will never forget our first call about the possibility of me coming home to play. He saved baseball for San Francisco and will be greatly missed. Sending my love and prayers to Debby and family. I love you Peter Magowan,” tweeted Bond.

With the game’s greatest slugger in place, the Giants went on to have great success and Magowan put together a plan to build a privately funded ballpark on the water in downtown San Francisco. That park, the first in years built without direct public funding, opened in 2000 and became one of the jewels of the game.

Magowan stepped down following the 2008 season but had put in place the management team that helped bring San Francisco its first World Series title in 2010, followed by championships in 2012 and 2014.

“Peter’s mark on the Giants and the San Francisco community can be felt throughout the ballpark, in which he was intimately involved in the design and planning and throughout the daily operations of the organization,” Giants president and CEO Larry Baer said. “He set forth a Giants vision to create a winning culture and to serve our fans and the community. Over the past 25 years, we have followed through on his vision and his impact on our community will be felt for decades to come.”

Magowan moved to California in 1958, the same year the Giants relocated from New York to San Francisco. He had a successful business, working 37 years for Safeway Inc., including serving as chairman and CEO from 1980-93 before stepping down after taking over the Giants.

The Giants made the playoffs four times in Magowan’s 16-year tenure running the Giants, including a trip to the World Series in 2002 before losing in seven games to the Angels.

Bonds also went on to set the single-season and career homer records during his tenure with the Giants, hitting 73 homers in 2001 and 762 in his career.

Magowan did significant work in the community, making the Giants the first professional sports team to dedicate an annual game to the fight against AIDS/HIV with the creation of “Until There’s A Cure Day” in 1994. He also formed the Junior Giants program that provided free leagues for kids to play and learn baseball.

Magowan also revered the rich history of the franchise he started following as a child, signing Hall of Famer Willie Mays to a lifetime contract and bringing back Hall of Famers Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda to the organization to serve as special advisers. In 2008, he established the Giants Wall of Fame, which serves as a tribute to the organization’s greatest players of the San Francisco era.

Magowan will be added to the Wall of Fame on Feb. 9.

“Peter Magowan has been a part of my life for a long, long time, first as a fan watching me play in New York and then, remaining a fan when we moved to San Francisco,” Mays said. “Along the way, he became my friend. Peter would call me often to check in. He and Debby cared about me and it was so easy to care about them in return. It’s hard to find the right words just now, but in losing Peter, I’ve lost a great, great friend. He was like my godfather. No one can replace him.”

He is survived by wife Debby, five children and 12 grandchildren.

“Our family lost a great man today,” the family said in a statement. “We all know how much Peter loved his Giants and San Francisco, and he had that same love and passion for his family. He was so proud of his children and grandchildren, and we will forever cherish the memories we made together.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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IN MEMORIAM: Hughes Van Ellis, Survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Dies at 102

Along with his older sister, Viola Fletcher, months-old Hughes Van Ellis fled the white mobs and fires that tore through the Greenwood District in Tulsa leaving behind rubble and ash. Not only did they lose their homes, they also lost a lifetime of opportunities, Van Ellis told CNN earlier this year. “I lost 102 years. I don’t want nobody else to lose that,” he said. “He died waiting on justice,” his grandnephew, Ike Howard, told CNN.

Published

6 months ago

October 14, 2023

Oakland Post

Hughes Van Ellis was still fighting for justice until his death Monday.File photo courtesy NNPA.

By Stacy M. Brown | NNPA Newswire

Hughes Van Ellis, one of the last three survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, died at 102 on Monday, October 9, according to Oklahoma Democratic Rep. Regina Goodwin, who spoke on behalf of his family.

Ellis died Monday night in Denver, Colorado.

Along with his older sister, Viola Fletcher, months-old Ellis fled the white mobs and fires that tore through the Greenwood District in Tulsa leaving behind rubble and ash.

Not only did they lose their homes, they also lost a lifetime of opportunities, Van Ellis told CNN earlier this year. “I lost 102 years. I don’t want nobody else to lose that,” he said.

“He died waiting on justice,” his grandnephew, Ike Howard, told CNN.

Known affectionately as “Uncle Redd,” Ellis was a WWII war veteran and a symbol of resilience in the face of racial adversity.

Goodwin remarked, “He bravely served America, even as he spent a lifetime awaiting atonement related to the Tulsa Race Massacre, which occurred between May 31 and June 1, 1921, when white mobs violently attacked Black residents, destroying over 35 square blocks of the prosperous Greenwood District, known as “Black Wall Street.”

Goodwin, a staunch advocate for reparations for race massacre survivors, emphasized Ellis’ unwavering commitment to the cause.

“Two days ago, Mr. Ellis urged us to keep fighting for justice,” Goodwin noted. “In the midst of his death, there remains an undying sense of right and wrong. Mr. Ellis was assured we would remain steadfast, and we repeated to him, his own words, ‘We Are One,’ and we lastly expressed our love.”

Ellis leaves behind his sister Viola Fletcher and Lessie Randle as the last known living survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Ellis’ death was deeply mourned by the Diaspora African Forum (DAF), which fondly referred to him as Uncle Redd.

In tribute to his remarkable life and the enduring connection between the African diaspora and their heritage, Van Ellis was granted honorary Ghanaian citizenship.

Dr. Erieka Bennett, founder and head of mission for DAF, and Dr. Toni Luck organized the historic visit of Uncle Redd and Mother Fletcher to Ghana in August 2021. “Mr. Van Ellis’s existence illuminated the indomitable nature of the human spirit amidst overwhelming odds,” Dr. Bennett asserted.

“Granting him honorary Ghanaian citizenship was a gesture of profound respect for his enduring legacy.”

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Community

Charles ‘Chuck’ Cherry, Black Newspaper Publisher in Florida, Dies at 66

Charles W. “Chuck’’ Cherry II of Daytona Beach, a fierce advocate of the Black Press and a longtime warrior for social justice, died on Saturday, July 15, at age 66. Chuck Cherry retired as publisher of the Daytona Times and the Florida Courier in 2020 after running the Black newspapers’ editorial operations for decades.

Published

9 months ago

July 25, 2023

Oakland Post

Chuck Cherry published the Daytona Times and Florida Courier until 2020. Courtesy photo.

Charles W. “Chuck’’ Cherry II of Daytona Beach, a fierce advocate of the Black Press and a longtime warrior for social justice, died on Saturday, July 15, at age 66.

Chuck Cherry retired as publisher of the Daytona Times and the Florida Courier in 2020 after running the Black newspapers’ editorial operations for decades.

The retired attorney also was an author, speaker, radio broadcaster and strategic business planning consultant.

In 2019, he founded 623 Management, Inc., a company that focused on developing and disseminating messaging to Black America with a specific focus on understanding and reaching Florida’s Black population through a comprehensive marketing strategy.

He also was a sought-after speaker on Black history and civil rights in Daytona Beach and beyond.

Charles W. Cherry II was born on Aug. 6, 1956, in Daytona Beach to Julia T. Cherry and Charles W. Cherry, Sr., founder of the Daytona Times and Florida Courier newspapers. The senior Cherry also was a past president of the Florida NAACP and a former Daytona Beach city commissioner.

Admitted into the Florida Bar in December 1983, he was a former Fort Lauderdale city and South Florida state prosecutor, and practiced law for 21 years before returning to journalism and newspaper publishing as his primary occupation upon the death of Charles W. Cherry, Sr.

For more than 10 years, Chuck Cherry also served as general counsel to the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Lauderdale.

Along with being publisher of the newspapers, he served as general manager of the family-owned radio station WPUL-AM and for years was host of the station’s “Free Your Mind’’ radio show.

Jenise Griffin, who replaced Cherry as publisher in 2020, said, “Chuck Cherry was my longtime mentor and friend, and I am devastated by his passing. He was a giant in the journalism industry and his voice will be missed. As his award-winning column was titled, he told it ‘straight, no chaser.’ I admired him as a journalist, a brother with a great legal mind, and an awesome father.’’

She added, “Although he was no longer a working member of the Daytona Times and Florida Courier, the staffers often still reached out to him for advice and insight on their editorial projects.’’

Plans for a public memorial service are in the works. In lieu of flowers, the Cherry family is requesting that donations be made to the Charles W. Cherry Sr. Endowed Scholarship Fund via giving.morehouse.edu.

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Bay Area

Former BART Director Margaret Pryor, 89

Published

9 months ago

July 25, 2023

Oakland Post

Margaret Pryor

Margaret Katherine Riley Pryor, 89, passed away peacefully at home in Moreno Valley, California during the early morning hours of July 8, 2023. She was born on Nov. 10, 1933, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to parents Katie Jasper Drake and Luther L. Thompson. After her family relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, she graduated from Phoenix Technical High School and later attended Arizona State University.

She married the late O.D.V. Owens in 1953 and from that union Malcolm D. Owens and Cheryl Y. Owens were born. She married the late Roy A. Pryor in 1964.

Margaret was first elected to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board of Directors in 1980. She served as the BART board president for three terms.

A tireless advocate of access to public transportation in underserved communities, she made sure Bay Area communities’ interests were represented on all vital transportation industry issues, particularly advocating for increased funding for public transportation and passenger rail in the community she served.

Margaret was also influential in the founding of Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA). She was a member of Bay Area Christian Connection in Oakland, California.

She was preceded in her death by husband Roy A. Pryor, her mother Katie Jasper Drake and father Luther L. Thompson, half-brother Luther James Thompson and half-sisters Wanda Dorsey and Patsy Atkins.

Margaret is survived by her children: Malcolm D. Owens and Cheryl Y. Owens; grandchildren Tente S. Owens (Naykeya), Malcolm C. Owens, Jr. (Christie), and L. Alexander ‘Alex’ Williams III; great-grandchildren: Spring M. Owens, Malcolm Brayden Owens, Mckenzie R. Owens, Maverick C. Owens, Logan A. Williams, Justin A. Williams; step-great-grandchildren Jazmin M. Guidry, Taylor M. Miller, and Seoul M. Worrell; half-sisters: Althea Banner, Angela Bailey (James) and Tarvis Parks.

Margaret leaves many other loved ones and friends to mourn her loss.

She will be remembered as a strong and intelligent woman who impacted many lives throughout her lifespan. Her remains will be interred with her husband, Roy A. Pryor, at Rolling Hills Memorial Park in Richmond, California. Services will be private.