Publisher of Jasper newspaper dies

<p>R. Douglas Pearson Jr., editor and publisher of the Daily Mountain Eagle newspaper in Jasper, died Friday morning at a Jasper hospital after a brief illness. He was 66.</p><p>Pearson had been publisher of the northwest Alabama newspaper since 1980 and had worked in the newspaper industry for more than 40 years.</p><p>"It is a terrible shock and I have lost a very dear friend," said C. Lee Walls Sr., president and chief executive officer of Walls Newspapers Consultants, which owns the Daily Mountain Eagle. "Doug was a special person, and we all benefited from knowing him and working with him."</p><p>Over the past decade, Pearson spearheaded drives leading to the acquisition and placement of weather alert sirens throughout Walker County. He also started a campaign by which funds were raised to purchase automated external defibrillators for every school in the county.</p><p>Pearson also founded the Daily Mountain Eagle Coat and Shoe Fund in 1990, which has provided winter coats and shoes to thousands of children.</p><p>Pearson served as president of the Alabama Press Association in 1995-96. At the time of his death, he was serving on several press association committees.</p><p>A native of Tuscaloosa, Pearson graduated from the University of Alabama in 1959 with a degree in journalism. While in school, he worked part-time as a salesman for The Graphic, a weekly in Tuscaloosa, and later worked for The Tuscaloosa News.</p><p>He continued his newspaper career an ad salesman at the Maryville-Alcoa (Tenn.) Daily News. He then assumed the role of national advertising manager at the Montgomery Advertiser and Alabama Journal, before becoming editor and publisher of the Cedartown (Ga.) Standard in 1965 at the age of 27. Pearson was editor and publisher for eight years at the Chillicothe, Mo. Constitution-Tribune, before becoming publisher of the Daily Mountain Eagle.</p><p>Funeral will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at Kilgore-Green Funeral Home in Jasper, with burial in Memory Hill Gardens in Tuscaloosa. Visitation will be from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.</p><p>Survivors include his wife, Pam Pearson of Jasper, a son, a daughter and three stepchildren.</p><p>The family request memorials be sent to the Walker County Humane Society or the Daily Mountain Eagle Coat and Shoe Fund.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/7/165060