The black publishing world lost another pioneer on Sunday when Eunice Johnson, widow of Johnson Publishing Co.'s founder John H. Johnson, died of kidney failure.

She was 93.  Together John and Eunice built the Chicago-based publishing empire which produced Ebony and Jet magazines' two of the longest-running black-oriented magazines in the country. It was Eunice who named Ebony because of the rich color of the wood.  In addition to serving as the company's secretary and treasurer, Eunice founded the highly celebrated Ebony Fashion Fair as well as creating her own Fashion Fair make-up line.

For decades, Johnson's traveling fashion show featured fashions from some of the world's top black designers, and raised money for charity, making about 200 stops a year in the U.S. and abroad.  Long before Tyra Banks, the Ebony Fashion Fair helped launch the careers of trail blazing fashion divas and artisans.

More important, the fashion extravaganza was instrumental in presenting a positive image of African American life and culture.

It was to the fashion world what Ebony and Jet were to publishing.  Ebony was first published in 1945 and the Ebony Fashion Fair came

along in 1961.  These companies were born during the Civil Rights Movement, when positive images for African Americans were few and far between.

The Johnsons helped to change negative stereotypes by featuring notable African Americans of their day in their magazines, and showcasing the beauty of black women on the runway.  Equally important, their efforts helped blacks to change negative images of themselves.  Reading about or seeing someone successful who looked like them did wonders for black self images in the 40's, 50's and 60s.

The passing of John Johnson to heart failure in 2005, and now Eunice's death marks a turning point not only for black-owned publishing companies, but publishing in general. Changes in how the world receives news continues to impact traditional methods of publishing.  The Internet has made it cheaper now to get started than it was for John, who borrowed $500 against his other's furniture as collateral.  Johnson Publishing has, no doubt, faced this reality.  In Sept. the company announced it was considering selling its magazines.  I just hope the company can stay in business.  It is truly a national treasure.

The lower cost of online publishing, coupled with cable television stations, email and bloggers has diluted the originality of new spreading articles so rapidly across the net that they become obsolete almost from the time they hit Cyberspace.

There is something to be said for taking one's time.  Taking time gives you the opportunity to think about your audience and labor over the cover.  Johnson and his staff, no doubt, put in long hours, researching and getting the stories just right, brainstorming headlines, conducting elaborate photo shoots, and so on.  The result was a first class magazine for which we could all be proud.

For 65 years, Ebony and Jet has been at the heart of black publishing's national voice for those whose lives would otherwise have not been noticed.  It is what inspired me and countless others to start our own publications.  We'll miss you, John and Eunice Johnson.  Rest in peace.