John M. Couric, 90, former journalist, P.R. executive, father of broadcaster Katie Couric
Rob Cibik
Katie Couric
By Adam Bernstein
The Washington Post
June 22, 2011
John M. Couric, a wire service editor who said he gave up the �high
priesthood of journalism� for a public relations career, in part to
support a growing family that included the future television journalist
Katie Couric, died June 22 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. He
was 90.
His death, of complications from Parkinson�s disease, was confirmed by
his daughter Katie, the former anchor of the �CBS Evening News� and co-
host of NBC�s �Today Show� who is scheduled to start a daytime talk show
for the ABC network.
John M. Couric was a longtime Arlington resident.
�I encouraged her to go into broadcasting because I thought it was more
promising than print, having been in print myself,� John Couric, an
Arlington resident, told The Washington Post in 1991.
He covered Georgia politics and the state capitol for the Atlanta
Constitution before joining the United Press wire service in the late
1940s. He reported from throughout the South for UP, chronicling the rise
of then-Gov. Herman Talmadge of Georgia and a hurricane that in 1949
devastated the east coast of Florida.
He joined the news service�s Washington bureau in 1951 and subsequently
wrote about then-Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson�s heart attack,
among other stories of national interest.
He was an editor with UP before leaving in 1957 to begin his public
relations work with a series of trade associations, including the
National Association of Broadcasters and the American Health Care
Association.
He retired in 1985 after six years with the Food and Drug Administration,
where he wrote articles and speeches.
John Martin Couric Jr. was born Aug. 28, 1920, in Brunswick, Ga., and
grew up in Dublin, Ga. He graduated in 1941 with a journalism degree from
Mercer University in Macon, Ga., and was a newspaper reporter in Macon
before serving in the Navy during World War II.
Stationed in the Mediterranean and then the Pacific, Mr. Couric
participated in the invasion of Sicily before serving in the campaigns
for Tarawa, Peleliu, the Philippines and Okinawa. He retired from the
Navy Reserve in 1965 at the rank of lieutenant commander.
Besides his daughter Katie, of New York, survivors include his wife of 67
years, Elinor Hene Couric of Arlington; two other children, Clara
Batchelor of Brookline, Mass., and John M. Couric Jr. of Arlington; nine
grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Their oldest child, Virginia
State Sen. Emily Couric (D-Charlottesville), died in 2001.
Mr. Couric received a master�s degree in communications from American
University in 1968 and was an adjunct professor of journalism and public
relations in AU�s graduate program and the University of Maryland for the
next 27 years.
He was a longtime Arlington resident and member of the National
Presbyterian Church in Washington. He was involved in volunteer work for
the American Heart Association and, in the early 1960s, the President�s
Committee on Employment of the Handicapped. He served on the executive
committee of both groups.
--
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I
may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just leave me alone.
Diner
> John Martin Couric Jr. was born Aug. 28, 1920, in Brunswick, Ga., and
> grew up in Dublin, Ga.
> Besides his daughter Katie, of New York, survivors include his wife of 67
> years, Elinor Hene Couric of Arlington; two other children, Clara
> Batchelor of Brookline, Mass., and John M. Couric Jr. of Arlington; nine
> grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Wouldn't his son's name be John M. Couric III?
-Tim
tanguera
The Couric who died was born a junior but dropped it early on. The son
who survives uses the Jr.