Family,
friends, and the Public Health and Activist Communities
mourn the death of Charyn D. Sutton who succumbed
to cancer on Thursday, December 30, 2004. Charyn
had been a communications consultant since 1984.
Her areas of concentration include health care,
disease control and prevention, youth services,
criminal justice, community-based economic development
and consumer services, with a focus on reaching
racially and economically diverse audiences and
constituencies. Under her direction, Onyx staff
and consultants have worked extensively in the
area of tobacco prevention and control – facilitating
focus groups, providing technical assistance in
the development of local coalitions, organizing
conferences, providing skills training, writing
and editing manuals, and developing mass media
campaigns.
Charyn
served as the media coordinator for the successful
community-based effort in 1990
that prevented the introduction of "Uptown," a
cigarette brand designed specifically for African
Americans. She was a founding member of the Uptown
Coalition for Tobacco Control and Public Health and
of the National Association of African Americans
for Positive Imagery (NAAAPI). She coordinated the
Quit Today! Media Project that focused on smoking
cessation for African Americans using radio, and
was one of the authors of Pathways to Freedom:
Winning the Fight against Tobacco, an African American quit
smoking and community mobilization guide. She was
a contributing author to the 1998 Surgeon General’s
Report that looked at smoking and racial/ethnic minorities.
Charyn was also the architect and primary author
of Breathe Free, a booklet designed to help families
and communities deal with the issue of secondhand
tobacco smoke – especially in African-American
households.
Charyn previously served as Director of
marketing communications for the National Office
of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America and developed
Pass It On, a nationally-recognized program of outreach
to volunteers in communities of color. She won awards
for her media work in AIDS prevention and elder abuse
prevention. She was Director of Public and Community
Information for the Office of Employment and Training,
City of Philadelphia; Mid-Atlantic Regional Public
Information Coordinator for the 1980 Census, U.S.
Department of Commerce; Press Secretary for the Attorney
General of Pennsylvania; Communications Director
for Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania;
and Communications Director for Opportunities Industrialization
Centers (OICs) of America.
Charyn
had been a reporter and feature writer for several
major newspapers, including the
Philadelphia Bulletin, Philadelphia Inquirer,
Wilmington (Del.) News-Journal, and the Detroit
Free Press.
Her news and feature articles led to state funding
for a sickle cell anemia program at Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia, special outreach programs
for Latino migrant workers in Delaware, and the establishment
of a national adoption program based in Philadelphia
for special needs children. She was the former editor
of the State of Black Philadelphia, published by
the Urban League of Philadelphia, and edited Grio:
The Praise Singer, a multicultural magazine for elementary
and secondary school students.
Charyn was a magna cum laude graduate of
Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and attended the
Temple University Graduate School of Communications
and Theater, with a major in journalism. Her passion,
intellectual prowess and friendship will be greatly
missed.
Charyn
is survived by her son Kamal Hoagland, grandson
Christopher Hoagland, her mother
Martha
Sutton, brother and sister-in-law Charles & Kathy
Sutton.
A
memorial
service will be held Saturday, February 5, 2005,
10 AM.
Oxford Presbyterian Church
8501 Stenton Avenue (Stenton & Gowen
Avenues)
Philadelphia, PA 19150
215.247.9487
The Rev. Ethelyn Taylor, Pastor
