In Memoriam: Dr. Lee Thornton

Courtesy of University of Maryland

Dr. Francis Lee Thornton, former White House correspondent and Howard University educator, passed away at the age of 71 from pancreatic cancer on September 25, 2013.

Thornton was born in Leesburg, Virginia in 1941 and raised in Washington D.C. She attended Roosevelt High School, graduating in 1959, and then attended the District of Columbia Teachers College. She received a master's degree from Michigan State University in rhetoric and public address and went on to earn her doctorate in radio, television, and film from Northwestern University in 1973.

Some of Thornton's career accomplishments include being one of the first black female journalists to become a regular White House correspondent for CBS, a weekend host for National Public Radio's All Things Considered, a reporter & producer for the American Business network, a producer for CNN's "Both Sides With Jesse Jackson", and a former president of the Society of Professional Journalists' D.C. Chapter.

Her journey at Howard University began in 1983 when she joined the Howard University School of Communications as a broadcast journalism professor. Under her tutelage, nationally recognized anchors and correspondents such as Fredericka Whitfield and Jennifer Thomas of CNN, Michelle Miller of CBS News, and Lesli Foster of WUSA-9 in Washington D.C. were able to hone their skills as journalists.

Dr. Thornton made an invaluable impression on all those she taught, and prepared a generation of journalists and educators to bear the torch of truth and fairness. Dr. Bishetta D. Merritt, PhD  is the interim chair of the Media, Journalism, and Film Department in the Howard University School of Communications. She first met Dr. Thornton when she took a class on African-Americans in the press as a graduate student at Ohio State University. She said that Dr. Thornton would drive up from Cincinnati every week to teach the class.

Photo Courtesy of University of Maryland

"She was the only African-American professor I had the whole time I was at Ohio State working on my M.A. and doctorate. So of course it was inspiring that even though she was a working journalist, she had her PhD. I was thrilled to know that there were people out there like I wanted to be so I was really excited." Dr. Merritt said.

She said that Dr. Thornton's teaching style was tough, but that she learned a lot of useful information.

"You couldn't get away with anything, no excuses. She was always well prepared and she did a lot of research. [She] presented us with great information and this was a theory class... I still have my notes to tell you the truth and I used them when I began to teach the following year. She was excellent, just a great teacher." she said.

Dr. Merritt kept in touch with Dr. Thornton, but lost contact for a few years until they reconnected at Howard University.

"When I saw her as a reporter on CBS I would write her a note, we didn't have cellphones, texts and twitter and all that kind of stuff so I would send her a note or give her a call like, “I saw you!” she laughed, "But when I first came [to Howard]  to work, I was walking past a classroom and there she was and I probably gasped and ran in there and hugged her or something and I may have not waited until class was over because I was just so happy to see her."

After hearing of her passing last week, Dr. Merritt said that she was upset to hear of the loss.

Dr. Thornton stayed at Howard University until 1997 when she joined the University of Maryland's Journalism School as a broadcast reporting professor. From 2008 to 2009 she served as the interim dean of the school of journalism, and as the interim associate provost for equity and diversity at the university. To help graduate students with financial aid, she created the Lee Thornton Dissertation Fellowship with an endowment shortly before she passed away.

Dr. Thornton is survived by her sister, Marilyn Thornton and her mother Betty Thornton.