H.B. 'Brandy' Ayers, standout small-daily publisher, dies

Brandy Ayers

H. Brandt "Brandy" Ayers, a newspaper publisher who was courageous, colorful and in the end controversial, died in his hometown of Anniston, Ala., Sunday. He was 85.

Ayers was publisher of The Anniston Star, which "long attracted young reporters interested in launching a career in Alabama," notes Amy Yurkanin of AL.com. "It took liberal positions on integration in the 1960s and 1970s and endorsed Democratic candidates for president despite their unpopularity in the state." His company, Consolidated Publishing, also has The Talladega Daily Home and three weeklies: The News-Journal, in Jacksonville; The Cleburne News, and the St. Clair Times.

"Ayers won the Editorial Leadership Award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors after he helped create an institute for community journalism at the University of Alabama. The program places second-year graduate students in internships at the Star, WVUA-23 or Alabama Public Radio," Yurkanin reports. He was “instrumental in creating the Alabama Press Association Journalism Foundation in the 1960s, and supported the efforts of the foundation through the years,” APA Executive Director Felicia Mason told Yurkanin.

Ayers was "a National Public Radio commentator and a well-known voice of Southern liberalism," the Star's Tim Lockette writes. "Much of his fame transformed into notoriety in recent years, as former employees came forward with stories of sexual harassment by Ayers in the 1970s." That led to his replacement as publisher by his wife, Josie, who survives him.