Prominent black journalist, publisher George Curry has died

FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 9, 2005 file photo, George E. Curry, editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service and BlackPressUSA.com, sits in a classroom at Howard University in Washington. Curry, a journalist, civil rights activist and publisher whose syndicated column ran in hundreds of black-owned newspapers around the United States, has died. He was 69. Curry, of Laurel, Maryland, died suddenly on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File) (The Associated Press)

WASHINGTON – The sister of prominent African-American journalist and publisher George Curry says her brother has died. He was 69.

Charlotte Purvis says Curry died suddenly Saturday at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland, after he was taken to the emergency room. Curry lived in Laurel, Maryland.

Curry's syndicated column appeared in more than 200 African-American newspapers. He served as editor-in-chief of both Emerge magazine and the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a news service for black newspapers.

He was also a frequent commentator on Black Entertainment Television and on the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show.

Within the past year, he had been raising money to relaunch Emerge as a digital magazine.

Earlier in his career, he wrote for Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.