Les Brownlee, 90, pioneer journalist, Emmy winner, and Columbia College professor emeritus died November 21, 2005 at Evanston Hospital.

Mr. Brownlee did his undergraduate and graduate studies at Northwestern University. He was the first black reporter at the Chicago Daily News. Brownlee was also the first African American hired to report on air at WLS-TV and won an Emmy for his editorials there in 1975. He also worked at WGN-TV, WBEZ Radio and the Chicago Defender. Brownlee later became a teacher and mentor to hundreds of journalism students at Columbia College. He was named to the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 2002. There is also a journalism series sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists that bears his name.

Credit: SPJ and Columbia College