Longtime journalism educator dies in Ala.

John C. Merrill, a journalism professor who became the director of the LSU School of Journalism in 1981 and served in that post for three years, has died.

He died Sept. 20 in Birmingham, Ala.

Merrill, a journalism educator for 64 years, taught, lectured and conducted workshops in more than 50 countries and wrote and edited 35 books.

“He was an ethics scholar and worldwide expert on international communications,” LSU journalism professor Louis Day said Monday.

Following Merrill’s three-year stint as director of the journalism school, he continued to teach at LSU until he retired in 1990 and moved to Columbia, Mo.

“He was very engaging in the classroom and a very good teacher,” Day said. “He definitely made a contribution in the classroom.”

A native of Cleveland, Miss., Merrill served four years in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Merrill got his Bachelor of Arts degree from Delta State College and his Master of Arts degree from LSU before becoming wire editor in 1949 of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

He spent the majority of his teaching career, from 1964 to 1980, at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Merrill taught part time at many universities after leaving LSU in 1990.

A lectureship and journalism award is named in Merrill’s honor at Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss.