Gregory Kane, a respected former columnist with the Baltimore Sun and a frequent contributor to Blackamericaweb.com has died. Kane lost his battle with cancer on Tuesday. Family, friends and colleagues remember Kane as a principled journalist with strong family values who didn’t follow the herd with his hard-hitting commentary.
“He challenged a lot of traditional political thought in the African-American community,” Anthony McCarthy, a talk-show host at Baltimore radio station WEEA-FM told the Baltimore Sun.
“When I’d have him as a guest on my show, he’d say to me, ‘I’m your token conservative.’ ”
A lifelong resident of Baltimore, Kane graduated from City College. Though he worked at Sinai Hospital for many years, in 1984, he started writing columns for what was then the Evening Sun. Though he was not a trained journalist, he became well-known for his columns, which he initially wrote for free.
Kane left the Sun in 2008, but at the end of this life, he was still writing for both the Baltimore Times and the Washington Examiner. He also wrote popular columns for Blackamericaweb.com, which can be read here. He was also a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University’s writing seminars.
“Gregory consistently moved people with his commentaries on BlackAmericaWeb.com, always registering high readership for his articles that were also followed with passionate reader comments – both in agreement and disagreement – as he challenged the thoughts and approach of conventional thinking,” says Marty Raab, Sr. Vice President Marketing, Digital, Communications & Events at Reach Media, Inc.
“The Baltimore Sun, in a memorial, included a comment by an editorial assistant at The Baltimore Times that very well represented the thoughts of our readers – “I loved his mind, even when I didn’t agree with him, he was fun to read.”
Kane is survived by his wife, Veronica White Kane, his daughter, Jennifer White Cherry, his son, Ray Chapman, Sr.a brother, Michael A. Kane, and a sister, Margaret Torrence.
READ: The Greatest Love Story: BAW Writer Gregory Kane Reflects on His Mother, Ruth Floyd
