Earl G Graves Sr

Earl Graves Sr., the founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine and iconic entrepreneur in the black community, has died. Graves' son, Earl "Butch" Graves Jr., confirmed his father's passing in a post on Twitter, saying he died after a long battle with Alzheimer's. According to Black Enterprise, Graves Sr. was 85. Earl G. Graves, Sr. is Chairman of Earl G. Graves, Ltd. (a multimedia company with properties in television, radio, events, digital media and the Internet), having served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1972. He is the Managing Partner of Graves Ventures, Inc. and also the Publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, which he founded in 1970. Additionally, since 1998, Mr. Graves has been a Managing Director of Black Enterprise/Greenwich Street Corporate Growth Partners, L.P. Mr. Graves is a trustee of Howard University, a member of the Executive Board and Executive Committee of the National Office of the Boy Scouts of America and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Aetna Foundation, Inc. and the Black Enterprise B.R.I.D.G.E. Foundation. In 1995, his alma mater, Morgan State University, renamed its business school the Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management. In August 2006, Mr. Graves received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Black Journalists for his contributions to the field of journalism and the publishing industry. Graves Sr. was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1935. He graduated from Morgan State University with a degree in economics. Following a stint in the Army, Graves Sr. went on to work as administrative assistant to the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy from 1965 to 1968.