Garth Reeves

Garth Reeves, publisher emeritus of The Miami Times, moved to Miami with his family in 1919, four months after his birth in Nassau, Bahamas. Mr. Reeves graduated from Miami’s Booker T. Washington High School in 1936 and earned a Bachelor’s degree in printing from Florida A&M University in 1940. After serving in World War II, Mr. Reeves returned to Miami and began to work alongside his father, Henry E. S. Reeves, who established The Miami Times in 1923. Under his leadership, The Miami Times has become the Black community’s voice. Today, the publication is Miami’s oldest and largest black newspaper. Mr. Reeves broke the color barrier in Miami’s white establishment, becoming the first Black to serve on the governing boards of Miami-Dade Community College, Barry University, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, and the United Way of Dade County. He also served as organizing chairman of the board for National Industrial Bank, the first integrated bank in the State of Florida. In the 1950s he was instrumental in integrating local beaches, parks, and golf courses. Mr. Reeves served 10 years as president of Amalgamated Publishers of New York City representing 110 Black newspapers throughout the country, and served two terms as president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. He is a life member of the NAACP, Sigma Pi Phi and Omega Psi Phi fraternities and a founding member of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation.

-BellSouth Miami-Dade County African American History Calendar, 2002-2003