By Reginald Stuart
WASHINGTON, DC — John J. Britton, a Nashville native who graduated from Pearl High School in 1954 and went on to earn a variety of assignments in the news industry and served as public relations spokesman and executive assistant to the president of Meharry Medical College for more than a decade, was laid to rest this week, having passed from heart disease.
Britton’s seemingly never-ending careers included reporting for the Atlanta Daily World and Jet Magazine, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and Washington-based Joint Center of Political and Economic Studies. In college, he attended Lincoln University in Missouri, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, graduated with a B.S. degree in journalism from Drake and earned a M.S. in journalism from Syracuse University in New York.
The son of a school teacher, Martha Parrish, and preacher, the Rev. John Henry Britton Sr., a minister, ‘John Jr.’ as some people came to know him, also spent time as a promotions manager in the early 1970s for Motown Records. In an interview with the Chicago-based History Makers, he credits his parents with “instilling in him lifelong strong values and religious principles.” They have carried him through his adulthood, say those who voiced and echoed these sentiments when asked this week about him.
“He was very effective in supporting Meharry,” said Robert Poole, retired vice president of development at Meharry for more than a decade. “He was very clear on the institution…the need to serve the underserved.”
Poole recalls Britton had a good sense of humor. “He didn’t get overwhelmed by problems,’ he said. That personal sense of self, sense of values Britton sent him rocketing through his career, those who became peers along the way, said.
While an obvious music buff, Britton spent his down-time playing Scrabble, the word game that makes you pause and think.
With his goals of journalism and community service captured, his next giant step was to take another opportunity in Washington to become public affairs director at the University of the District of Columbia, then a two-year college just beginning to set to sails in a city booming with outstanding institutions like Howard University, Georgetown University and the George Washington University. In 2002, Britton finally put his life’s puzzle together.
He married fellow colleague Cherrie Dean of Orangeburgh, SC. Through hit tunes, Scrabble games, gathering with long time friends and working for good change, Britton’s bride stayed by his side moving on up.
Looking back to the mid 1950’s, Britton got a surprise boost in his hopes for the future, just a few days from the start of his Pearl High graduation in the spring of 1954. That year, the U.S. Supreme Court barred racial segregation in public schools was against the law from coast to coast and border to border. The court ruling opened the doors of opportunity to millions of fellow citizens. Britton showed up ready to participate and lead.
Britton spent his final years in Annapolis, MD, where he lived upon retirement. He was battling congestive heart failure, said his family.
His sister, Naomi, and brother, John III, preceded him in passing.
He is survived by his wife, Cherrie, a host of grandchildren and stepgrands and friends and colleagues who join the survivors.
His funeral was to be held this week in Annapolis at Asbury United Methodist Church.
