Waverly L. Easley, 91, former Phila. Tribune president, CEO
Services will be held Monday, June 6, for former Philadelphia Tribune president and CEO Waverly L. Easley, 91, who died Saturday, May 28, of renal failure at Southeastern Veterans Center in Spring City.
Services will be held Monday, June 6, for former Philadelphia Tribune president and CEO Waverly L. Easley, 91, who died Saturday, May 28, of renal failure at Southeastern Veterans Center in Spring City.
Mr. Easley's career at the Tribune stretched from 1954 to 1989, the paper said in a June 2 obituary. He rose through the ranks, starting as business manager and finishing as president and CEO during his final decade at the Tribune, which bills itself as America's oldest continuously published African American newspaper.
Even after retiring, the Philadelphia resident considered himself "on call," and if something were happening, he would head for the newspaper's office, daughter Wyvetta Easley Mallory told the Tribune.
His twin passions were family and the news business.
Daughter Raquel C. Easley told the paper: "He probably spent more time at the Tribune than he did with us. He loved everything about the Tribune. It inspired him, it really did. Even in the nursing facility, he would tell people: 'I'm going to see if I can get a write-up on you.' "
Tribune president and CEO Robert W. Bogle remembered Mr. Easley as a man committed to the newspaper, an accessible leader, and a generous mentor who welcomed his protégé with support and good counsel.
"He is the reason I am where I am," Bogle said.
Not a day went by that Mr. Easley wasn't involved in some way with the newspaper during his tenure and even afterward on many occasions, Bogle said.
"It was a part of his well-being, a part of him," Bogle said. "He attempted in many ways to share that experience and have our employees live by that example."
The fifth of six children, Mr. Easley graduated in 1943 from John M. Langston High School in Danville, Va. He served in the Army during World War II, the Tribune said.
After the war, Mr. Easley graduated with a business degree from what is now Hampton University. While in college he married Ruth Coles, his high school sweetheart. In 1951, he earned a master's degree in business administration from Pennsylvania State University, the newspaper said.
After completing his education, he joined the North Carolina Board of Education, and worked to fight "biased hiring practices, low wages and meager managerial positions for minorities as he tried to place students as interns in the corporate sector," the paper wrote.
An active volunteer, he was affiliated with Penn State's board of directors for the College of Education, and the Philadelphia Commission on Aging, the Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center, the Philadelphia Boys Scouts of America, and the Dr. Ruth Hayre Scholarship Fund.
Bogle said Mr. Easley was devoted to a group of Tribune-sponsored charities that provide aid in the areas of hunger, education, housing, and health.
"He would go and find solutions to those kinds of problems whenever he was aware of them," Bogle said. "He didn't care where he had to go to get them."
In addition to his wife and two daughters, he is survived by a sister and nieces and nephews.
A viewing starting at 9 a.m. Monday, June 6, will be followed by a funeral at 11 at First African Baptist Church, 901 Clifton Ave., Sharon Hill. Burial is in Washington Crossing National Cemetery, Newtown.
Donations may be made in memory of Waverly L. Easley to the Alpha Leadership and Scholarship Foundation, c/o the Philadelphia Foundation, 1234 Market St., Suite 1800, Philadelphia 19107.
610-313-8102