Former WSJ "Business and Race" columnist dies

Leon Wynter, who wrote the “Business and Race” column for The Wall Street Journal from 1989 to 1999, died on Tuesday due to brain cancer. He was 57.

Richard Prince writes, “Wynter was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008 and had been undergoing treatment at the National Institutes of Health on the outskirts of Washington, Yvonne Wynter said.

“Wynter, a looming figure at 6-foot-7, had formed provocative views about race, which he outlined in a 2002 book, ‘American Skin: Pop Culture, Big Business and the End of White America.’

“Introducing a February 2003 commentary from Wynter on NPR’s ‘All Things Considered,’ host Robert Siegel said, ‘In the book, he argues that integration in the US has been achieved in the cultural marketplace, if nowhere else in society. But he was not prepared for all the white people who would read his book and assume that buying black culture means buying racial equality.’

Read more here. While writing his column, he also taught business journalism at Baruch College, City University of New York. Also at the Journal, he covered the Capitol Hill beats for federal banking, government telecommunications, and technology policy.