Stuart Awbrey, Editor of "Peace Corps Volunteer" Magazine dies in New Jersey
Stuart Awbrey
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Stuart Awbrey, 66, of Piscataway, N.J., formerly of Parsons, died Sunday, Jan. 11, 2004, in Piscataway, N.J., after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
Awbrey was born Oct. 13, 1937, in Kansas City, Mo. He graduated from Parsons High School in 1955 and received a B.A. from the College of Wooster in Ohio. He received a Master's degree in journalism from Columbia in 1960 and was a Rotary Fellow for International Understanding at the University of Ghana in West Africa
He began his journalism career on the sports and copy desks of the Parsons Sun. He later attended Columbia University's school of journalism and worked on the metro desk of the Chicago Daily News
He had been involved in the Children's Television Workshop ("Sesame Street" and the "Electric Company") in New York City, as a vice president and account executive of Carl Byoir and Associates, a public relations firm.
Before that he edited the "Peace Corps Volunteer Magazine." He was a spokesman for the agency during the Johnson Administration.
He was also special assistant to U.S. Rep. Sidney Yates of Illinois in Washington. Subsequently he was senior public affairs representative of IBM Corp.
He and his wife, Beverly, purchased The Cranford (N.J.) Chronicle in 1978 and he was the editor.
He received over 90 awards in his 11 years at The Chronicle.
He remained active in Union county journalism after selling the Chronicle in 1989. He joined Forbes Newspapers as the founding editor of The Westfield Record, and editor of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Press. He capped his career as editor of The New Jersey Lawyer, the newspaper of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
He was active in the New Jersey State Press Association, serving as a director for eight years and holding several committee positions.
He was a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and of the National Newspaper Association and the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.
Survivors are his wife; two daughters, Kimberley of New Haven, Conn., and Lee of Montpelier, Vt.; two grand-daughters; his mother, Nancy Swenarton of Colorado Springs, Colo.; one brother, John of Colorado Springs; and a sister, Nancy of Pasadena, Calif.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at Unitarian Church in Summit, N.J.
Memorials may be made to the Greater New Jersey chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.
