Stanton B. Peabody is Dead
Stanton B. Peabody, a Veteran Liberian Journalist is dead. Bob Stan, as he was affectionately called, passed away on the morning of April 13, 20011 at 1:45 at the John F. Kennedy Medical Hospital in Sinkor, Monrovia after a brief illness. Stanton B. Peabody was born in Marshall City, Marshall Territory, now Margibi County, to the union of Albert D. Peabody and Serena Ford Marshall Peabody. He was 80 years old.
Stanton B. Peabody received his primary education in Marshall City and later moved to Monrovia, Capital of Liberia, and attended the James B. McCritty School and College of West Africa respectively. Later, he matriculated to the St. John’s Episcopal High School where he obtained his high school diploma.
Realizing that high school diploma was short of his ambition, young Stanton took to the hills of the University of Liberia where he graduated later with a degree in journalism.
While a student, he launched his journalism career as a reporter for the Liberian Age. Later, Mr. Peabody served as Assistant Editor, and became Acting Editor of The Liberian Age in 1966. In 1970, he was formally appointed Editor-in-Chief, a position he held even after the April 12, 1980 military coup d'etat when the Liberian Age's name was changed to The Redeemer.
He continued to serve as Editor-in-Chief until December 1980, when he was transferred to the Ministry of Information. In October 1983, he became the Editor of the Daily Observer News Paper and its sister paper, the Sunday Observer, a paper that suffered prosecution brutally under the military government for relentlessly reporting the facts.
Between 1991 and 1994, Stanton B. Peabody served as Editorial Consultant for The Inquirer newspaper, and later served on the organizing committee of Torchlight, a newspaper established by ECOMOG, the West African Peacekeeping Force during the height of the Liberian Civil Conflict. Since 1962, he served as Correspondent in Liberia for the British wire service, Reuters. Returning to Liberia in 2005 after a brief exile in the United States, he continued to be active in the press and involved with journalism in Liberia.
A veteran journalist who covered over five Liberian administrations, Stanton B. Peabody has received numerous national and international awards and honors, including "Journalist of the Year" in 1988 and was a founding member of the Press Union of Liberia.
Mr. Peabody also lectured at the School of Journalism at the University of Liberia.
Stanton B. Peabody is predeceased by his father, Albert Daniel Peabody, mother, Serena Ford Marshall Peabody, his brother Hugh Peabody, and a sister who died in infancy, Mary Agnes Peabody.
Bob Stan is survived by his wife Rebecca, five children; Hugh, Vina, Madia, Stan, and Sam. He leaves to mourn his loss several grand children, many nephews and nieces including Stanford Peabody of the Bushchicken Minnesota online Magazine and a host of other relatives and friends.
Stanton was a loving father of five children, a wonderful grandfather, a great uncle, a concern cousin, a likeable friend, a friendly gentleman and a great statesman.
Funeral service for the remains of Stanton B. Peabody is slated for April 30, 2011 in Monrovia, Liberia.
