For three decades, Jeff Burns, Jr. was one of the driving forces behind EBONY having served as its Associate Publisher and Senior Vice President at Johnson Publishing Company under the leadership of founder John H. Johnson.
Burns, who battled Alzheimer’s disease for many years, died in New York. He was 75.
After graduating from Howard University, where he earned an undergraduate degree in marketing and communications, he entered the advertising industry as a media planner before joining Johnson Publishing Company in 1977 as an advertising account sales representative. It didn’t take long before he was promoted, in 1979, to associate advertising manager.
By 1984 Burns became Vice President of JPC and Eastern Advertising Director for EBONY. Later he was appointed as Senior Vice President at JPC in 1993 with the overall responsibility of directing the New York office for JET, EBONY and EBONY Man magazines. He was promoted in 2001 to EBONY’s Associate Publisher. (Since 2021, EBONY has been owned by 1145 Holdings and led by CEO Eden Bridgeman.)
In the roles, Burns was responsible for selling and marketing the EBONY brand along with being director of special projects. He created special integrated marketing events for sponsors associated with EBONY such as Outstanding Women In Marketing & Communications; the African American Men’s Day; Mothers’ & Daughters Empowerment Program, the Taste of EBONY in New York and the film festival “Hollywood in Harlem.”
Burns was the son of Genevieve and Jeff Burns, Sr., a WWII Army Veteran Sergeant of the all Black 761st Tank Battalion known as “The Black Panthers” under General George S. Patton.
With parents who valued education, Burns became a passionate supporter of his alma mater Howard University. In fact, in 2014 he self-published the book, The Brotherhood of Drew Hall. The memoir celebrated the resilience, ambition, and service of young men from the segregated South who found success at the University and chose to use it to benefit their communities.
His hard work did not go unnoticed. He was saluted in 2002 as Alumnus of the Year during the Howard University School of Communications 30th Anniversary Gala. The honor was bestowed to him for his outstanding achievements in print journalism. He also served there as the former Vice Chairman of the School of Communications Board of Visitors.
After leaving JPC in 2007, he became executive vice president and chief marketing officer for the Soul of the South Television Network.
In addition to a close circle of family and friends, he leaves to cherish a loving and dedicated wife, international photojournalist Margot Jordan Burns.
Margena A. Christian, Ed.D., is a former EBONY and JET magazine editor who worked at JPC with Burns. She’s the author of Empire: The House That John H. Johnson Built and It’s No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown’s Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy.