IN MEMORIAM: Marcia Ann Gillespie, Editor of Essence and Ms. Magazines, Dies at 82

By Post Staff Marcia Anna Gillespie, the first editor in chief of Essence magazine, has died. She was 82. Born in Rockville Centre, New York, in 1944. The daughter of a church sexton/small business owner and domestic worker/caterer, Gillespie parlayed her degree in American studies from Illinois’s Lake Forest College into a research job at Time-Life Books, Inc. in New York. There she advocated for fairness and inclusion of Black life in its publications. When the owners of the standard bearer of Black life, Ebony magazine, ventured into creating a special publication for young, Black women, Gillespie was hired as managing editor in 1970, and became editor-in-chief a year later at the young age of 26. At the time, the venture by the Johnson family – the owners of Ebony magazine and Jet – into creating a publication for young Black women met the growing revolution of self-love in the Black community.

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