Hall of Fame Induction Year
1993
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Inductee Biography
Garth C. Reeves Sr., publisher emeritus of The Miami Times and a voice for the aspirations of African Americans in Miami for most of the past century. The Miami Times was the only job publisher emeritus Garth C. Reeves Sr. ever had, aside from serving in the Army during World War II. He was proud of that distinction. Reeves’ energy in running the landmark black-owned paper would impact the lives of countless families in South Florida. He’d found his life’s calling — to serve as a voice for the black community. He knew no better job. ‘A warrior for the community’ “He was a warrior for the community and he was always fighting with his pen trying to make things right,” said Dorothy Jenkins Fields, the founder of the Black Archives, History and Research Foundation of South Florida. “He was not afraid and he was not intimidated. He was dedicated to uplifting the race and he was not afraid to throw rocks and hide his hands to get the power structure’s attention to the difficulties and the inequalities of the black community. He dedicated his life to that,” said Fields. “He was a true pillar and trailblazer for the African American community,” Miami-Dade County Commission Chairwoman Audrey M. Edmondson said in a statement. “As an outstanding journalist and publisher of The Miami Times, he provided a platform for the black voices of Miami. My thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those whose lives he touched,” Edmondson said. Reeves, who oversaw the black-owned paper his father initially printed one page at a time on a small hand press in a modest Miami home upon its founding in 1923, and who kept it in the family as it evolved into its digital edition today, died two months after his daughter, Rachel, passed. She was the publisher of The Miami Times, assuming the mantle of leadership from her father and grandfather. In September 2016, Reeves was still using his voice to detail his role, and the paper’s position, in the media mix. “Over the years we represented ourselves in our own image — and today — we are still doing it. We fight our community’s fights without sacrificing integrity in any way,” Reeves told the Miami Herald as he headlined a discussion at The Black Archives at the Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex. In the world of media, where editors and publishers generally aren’t expected to be the news, “the black press is the exception,” wrote Jenkins in a 2016 column for the Herald. Reeves provided scholarships for students to attend his alma maters, Booker T. Washington High School and Florida A&M University. He donated to The Black Archives/Lyric Theater. He received honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Miami, Barry University, Florida Memorial University, and, in 2017, from Florida A&M University. As a civil rights leader in the 1950s, Reeves was among the first to swim at Crandon Park in defiance of laws that barred blacks from a beach designated whites only. As a political crusader who published the dominant black-owned paper in Miami-Dade, the oldest and largest black-owned newspaper in the Southeastern United States, he used his position to galvanize African Americans to make their interests felt at the polls. As a successful businessman, he gained entrée to a good-old-boy world of money and power. The paper was the foundation of Reeves’ small fortune. He invested profits from it in real estate and bank stock. He owned 5 percent of downtown Miami’s Bayside Marketplace.
Digital Collection
Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame
Disciplines
Business
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