Greg Freeman, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Columnist, Dies at 46

Greg Freeman, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Columnist, Dies at 46

Gregory B. Freeman, columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who was active in promoting diversity in the news business both nationally and locally, died today after a series of medical problems. He was 46.

He was a former board member of the National Association of Black Journalists, and past president of the Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis and of the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He was executive chair and past president of the Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists.

He was proud of his work with the Urban Journalism Workshop in St. Louis, which began there in 1977. Over the years, some 1,300 students have gone through the workshop. Freeman was also active in the William Monroe Trotter Group of African American columnists.

After his 1999 bout with prostate cancer, the Medical University of St. Louis reprinted his warning to be tested. In 2000, he was diagnosed with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, and had been using a wheelchair for about a year. In 2001, he received a kidney transplant from his sister, Cheryl McKinney of St. Louis.

His colleagues are recalling him as warm, caring, sensible and committed. Journal-isms also remembers him as a fan of this column, offering encouragement and alerting colleagues to it.

Writing last year in the Times of Shreveport, La., Byron McCauley called him "a role model for a generation of black journalists, including me."

Greg Freeman's columns on organ transplants

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