BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ( WIAT ) — James Jones, a longtime journalist from Tuscaloosa County who was the managing editor of the Selma Times-Journal, died Friday following complications from a stroke. He was 54.
Jones, who had guided the editorial direction of the newspaper since 2018, had previously spent nearly 26 years as a sports writer for The Biloxi Sun-Herald, where he and the staff won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi.
“It’s going to be hard to replace him, almost impossible,” Times-Journal Publisher Brent Maze said.
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Jones grew up in Cottondale, later graduating from Holt High School. In 1992, he graduated from Stillman College with a degree in journalism. While a student, Jones worked as a sports correspondent with The Tuscaloosa News.
“Working at my hometown newspaper was a big deal to me and my family,” Jones wrote in one of his final columns back in August.