Communication alum Dr. Gilbert Maddox was a trailblazing broadcaster and educator...

Dr. Gilbert Alan Maddox (WSU '54 '59 '61 '70) passed away on January 12, 2013. A native Detroiter, he was a trailblazing broadcaster and educator as well as historian. As a writer, producer and moderator, Maddox was one of the earliest contributors to a sustaining presence of African Americans on Detroit television. His 1959-1960 television series "Black and Unknown Bards," explored the contributions of African American authors from the American Colonial Period to 1960. Premiering on Detroit Public Television, the series was re-broadcast on WJBK TV and on 56 Michigan radio stations. From 1968 to 1969, he teamed with Tony Brown at DPTV to executive produce "CPT," the predecessor to Detroit Black Journal. And from 1969 to 1976 he hosted and co-produced 350 half-hour episodes of "Profiles in Black," which aired on WDIV Channel 4 in Detroit. Cited as the first African American man in the United States to earn a PhD in Mass Communication (from Wayne State University, 1970), he taught in the Detroit Public Schools before holding faculty appointments at Wayne State University, Howard University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University and later at the University of the District of Columbia and Morgan State University.

A memorial service will take place Saturday, February 2, 2013, 11am, at Unity Church of Washington, D.C.
(Detroit Free Press)