- It was an evening where the press, a restaurateur, and good-natured ribbing came together for a fundraising event for education.
Robert St. John, an entrepreneur, author, restaurateur, and philanthropist, was the subject of the Mississippi Press Foundation’s annual Celebrity Roast. A room full of Mississippi Press Association (MPA) members, along with politicians, friends, family, and others, came together to witness St. John got skewered before he had an opportunity for rebuttal.
The event took place on Thursday, September 11, in the grand ballroom at the Jackson Hilton. MPA Vice President, George Turner (publisher and editor, Greene County Herald, The Richton Dispatch), welcomed the crowd and introduced Marshall Ramsey, who served as the evening’s Master of Ceremonies, or “Roastmaster,” if you will.
St. John, whose weekly column appears each Monday in Magnolia Tribune, has been writing the column for 26 years. The syndicated column runs in newspapers around the state. St. John has written over 1,300 columns with more than a million words, and has never missed a week. He has also written 14 books.
A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management, St. John is the President and CEO of New South Restaurant Group based in Hattiesburg, where he owns and operates several acclaimed restaurants, including Crescent City Grill, Mahogany Bar, Tabella, Ed’s Burger Joint, The Midtowner, the Downtowner, and Loblolly Bakery…