The Crisis Mourns the Loss of Warren Marr II

Warren Marr II
Editor - 1974 - 1980
 
Warren Marr II came to the NAACP in 1968, serving concurrently as public relations assistant, assistant to editor Henry Lee Moon, and producer of a 15-minute weekly radio program, “The Black Man and Civil Rights,” which was broadcast over 98 radio stations nationwide.

In July 1974, NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins named Marr editor of The Crisis. The four previous editors had already established a tradition of enlightened scholarship for The Crisis. Marr added to this an unprecedented knowledge of printing, photography and painting. Marr introduced more color and aggressively pursued advertisers. He brought much of the production process in-house doing paste-ups and sizing pictures. In his first issue as editor (October 1974), Marr wrote:
 
“What we are looking for is dialogue. The Crisis desires
to become the forum for exploration of the vast arena of
opinion regarding minority concerns.”
 
While in high school, Marr worked at a printing plant, learning to operate a linotype. When he entered Wilberforce University, he studied journalism and printing. After graduating, Marr became a linotype operator for the St. Louis Argus and later for the Kansas City, Kan. Plaindealer. Within three years, Marr moved from the printing plant to the newsroom as assistant editor of The Plaindealer, where he wrote a weekly column, “Miniatures from the Fine Arts.”

He was gifted as a painter and photographer. Several exhibitions of his work have been held, and his paintings are in private collections in Liberia, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Before becoming The Crisis editor, Marr produced six covers for the magazine.

Prior to joining the NAACP, Marr worked with the American Missionary Association (AMA) coordinating a national program to increase interest in the six colleges founded by the AMA: Dillard and Fisk universities, Huston-Tillotson, LeMoyne, Talladega and Tougaloo colleges. It was at the AMA that he established the Amistad Award to recognize superlative contributions in human relations. Recipients of the Amistad Award have included Thurgood Marhsall, Buell Gallagher, and Kivie Kaplan.

In 1976, Marr became familiar with La Amistad when an associate came to him and said that there were no blacks in Operation Sail, a celebration of the nation’s 200th birthday with a flotilla of boats sailing in the New York harbor. “We should do something about that,” he told Marr. They succeeded in raising money and bought an old ship, replacing its name with that of Amistad. In 1991, Marr helped found Amistad Affiliates, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation of a replica of the historic schooner La Amistad for purposes of keeping the Amistad legacy alive. With a grant from the Connecticut state legislature and years of construction, Marr was able to work with Mystic Seaport to replicate the historic schooner La Amistad. The ship has sailed the world on goodwill and educational missions to teach the history of the 1839 Amistad event and to “address the serious issues of race and history” to help improve race relations. Marr was also co-founder of the Amistad Research Center, a research repository once housed at Dillard University, now located at Tulane University.
He contributed articles to other publications, including the Negro Digest and Music Journal and co-authored the bicentennial edition of The Negro Almanac.

Marr hired Maybelle Ward as his assistant, and she later became the first female editor of The Crisis (1984 – 1985). Marr retired as editor of The Crisis in 1980. Marr continued to reside in New York with his wife, Carmel, an attorney who served as commissioner with the New York Public Service Commission. They have two sons, Charles and Warren III.

Funeral services are entrusted to Michael J. Higgins Funeral Service in New City, NY.