I write as a native of Richmond, mail subscriber to the Richmond Free Press and a current resident of Tuscaloosa, Ala., hometown of the late George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service.

Mr. Curry’s death is particularly hard for those of us committed to civil rights and social justice. It comes the same week as those of us in Virginia lost another civil rights leader, Jack Gravely, former executive director of the Virginia State Conference NAACP.

As a journalism student at Howard University, I was introduced to Emerge magazine when Mr. Curry launched the publication. I remember watching him on BET’s news commentary program, “Lead Story.”

When I moved to Tuscaloosa in 2003, I had an initial email exchange with the legendary civil rights journalist, who gave me a great deal of history about this city that is the home of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. He was open about his feelings about some of the changes to his community in the West End of Tuscaloosa where he attended all-black Druid High School.

That same year, 2003, Mr. Curry was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists.

Along with sharing a common first name, Mr. Curry and I shared a passion for building and encouraging high school journalists. In 2007, I was pleased to welcome Mr. Curry to visit my media management class here at the University of Alabama, where I serve as associate professor of journalism and creative media.

To say Mr. Curry will be missed is a gross understatement. His clear voice and way of providing an honest assessment of where we are as a country in the area of race relations will never be duplicated.

Fortunately, I have saved my archive of Emerge magazine.

Here in Tuscaloosa, where Mr. Curry’s family still lives, we mourn his loss and celebrate what he meant to millions of Americans thanks to his award-winning journalistic work.

GEORGE L. DANIELS

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The writer is assistant dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama.