Percy Sutton Remembered (Nov 24, 1920-Dec 26, 2009)

“He was a great man,” commented Charles Warfield Jr., the president and chief operating officer of ICBC Broadcast Holdings Inc., to the Associated Press on the passing of the broadcast media’s chairman, Percy Ellis Sutton, 89.

The pioneering civil rights attorney who also represented Malcolm X before entering politics and developing his media empire that included the first black-owned radio station in NYC—WLIB-AM—which he purchased with his brother Oliver in 1973, and the Inner City Broadcasting empire’s flagship, famed WBLS-FM (107.5), New York’s top-rated station. The media empire grew to eventually include stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Jackson, Mississippi and Columbia, SC, along with syndicated projects, television and internet technology properties as Sutton passed the baton on to his son Pierre “Pepe” Sutton. A two-term NY NAACP president, Sutton also headed a group that purchased the Amsterdam News, the second largest black weekly newspaper in the country. And in 1981, he came to the rescue of the shuttered Apollo Theater.

President Barack Obama issued his condolences: “Percy Sutton was a true hero to African Americans in New York City and around the country. We will remember him for his service to the country as a Tuskegee Airman, to New York State as a state assemblyman, to New York City as Manhattan Borough President, and to the community of Harlem in leading the effort to revitalize the world renowned Apollo Theater. His life-long dedication to the fight for civil rights and his career as an entrepreneur and public servant made the rise of countless young African Americans possible. Michelle and I extend our deepest condolences to his family on this sad day.”

The last child in a family of 15 children, Percy Ellis Sutton was born in San Antonio, Texas to a father, Samuel Johnson Sutton, who was born into slavery, and a mother, Lillian, who both changed their lots in life through education. S.J. became the principal of a black high school and Lillian, a teacher. And the 12 surviving family members who became adults all went to college with the older ones lending support for the younger ones to succeed.

An early entrepreneur, the elder Sutton infused that spirit in his siblings, especially his youngest, Percy. Selling real estate, farming, running a mattress factory, funeral home and skating rink in addition to his principal duties, S.J. Sutton not only introduced the young Percy to commerce and enterprise but also to civil rights injustices—a calling that permeated his life.

A strong advocate of education, Percy was the product of three historically black institutions of higher learning–Prairie View A & M University in Texas, Tuskegee University in Alabama and Hampton University in Virginia—eventually entering Columbia law School on the GI bill, transferring to Brooklyn Law School so he could sandwich in work around his schedule, taking on the 4pm to midnight shift at the post office, followed by a subway train conductor shift until 8:30am, before reporting to law school at 9am.

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Opening law offices on 125th Street in Harlem, Sutton represented Malcolm X and was a strong advocate for civil rights. From that threshold he began a long career in politics, serving as a New York State Assemblyman and eventually President of the Manhattan Borough, becoming the highest-ranking black politician in the state. Even running for a Senate and Mayor seat himself, Sutton found greater impact in supporting other candidates like Rev. Jesse Jackson’s two presidential races.

One of those, David N. Dinkins, NYC’s first black mayor, said, “I stand on the shoulders of Percy Sutton.”

Another, current New York governor David Patterson, described Sutton as “… one of New York’s and this nation’s most influential African-American leaders – a man whom I am proud to have called a friend and mentor throughout my entire career.”

“It was Percy Sutton who talked me into running for office and who has continued to serve as one of my most valued advisors ever since,” added Paterson. “Percy was fiercely loyal, compassionate and a truly kind soul. He will be missed, but his legacy lives on through the next generations of African-Americans he inspired to pursue and fulfill their own dreams and ambitions.”

Rev. Al Sharpton, who recently visited him in the nursing home where the retired statesman resided, commented: “He personified the black experience of the 20th century. He started the century where blacks were victims. We ended as victors.”

Sutton is survived by his wife Leatrice Sutton and son Pierre “Pepe” Sutton from that marriage, who carries on his legacy as chairman of the board of the ICB Holdings, Inc, expanding the company’s reach and positioning it for the 21st century, and a daughter, Cheryl Lynn Sutton, from a second marriage.