Former AP & MS Link reporter Brown dead at 35

Timothy R. Brown, a reporter and editor on the staff of The Associated Press for more than a decade in Jackson, Miss., has died in Dallas. He was 35.

Brown left the AP in August to take a public affairs position at the University of Texas at Arlington.

His wife, Jacqueline, said Brown became ill Monday and was hospitalized in Dallas for tests. She said he died Tuesday. An autopsy was being performed.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at Morning Star Baptist Church in Jackson. Burial will be in Natchez Trace Cemetery in Madison.

Brown graduated from St. Joseph High School in Jackson in 1992 and from Jackson State University in 1996 with a degree in mass communications. He worked at the Mississippi Link, a minority-owned weekly newspaper, after leaving school.

He joined the AP as an intern in May 1996 and became a full-time staff member that September.

“Timothy was low-key and polite, but smart and quick-witted. His success as a journalist was a great source of pride for me since he was one of my first students as an adjunct journalism instructor at Jackson State University,” said Robert Naylor, the former Jackson, Miss., bureau chief and now director of career development for the AP in New York.

“I recruited and hired him at AP and had the pleasure of watching him develop from curious student to seasoned professional and colleague,” Naylor said. “It’s difficult for me to accept that he’s left us.”

Brown’s work in Mississippi included coverage of major sporting events and breaking news stories such as the collapse of telecommunications giant WorldCom and the fight by catfish producers in the South to limit the import of catfish from Vietnam. He also covered reports on decades of clerical child abuse in the Catholic church in Mississippi.

Brown was the Jackson bureau’s broadcast editor, working closely with the Mississippi Associated Press Broadcasters Association. His work included establishing the MAPBA Hall of Fame in 2004.

“Tim was rare combination of being likable yet aggressive in his profession,” said retired Mississippi News Editor Ron Harrist. “He always found something good to smile about. He was a hard worker who cared about Mississippi broadcasters. He will be sorely missed. My heart goes out to his wife and child. This was such a tragedy.”

Besides his wife, who lives in Grand Prairie, Texas, survivors include a son, Timothy R. Brown II; and his parents, Willie J. Brown Jr. and Jacquelyne L. Brown, all of Jackson, Miss.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*