Tutt S. Bradford

Tutt S. Bradford, 94, former owner and publisher of The Daily Times of Maryville, died Friday, March 23, at Shannondale Health Care Center in Maryville. He was extremely active in community and philanthropic endeavors until just the past three years. Bradford began selling newspapers on the street at about age 8 and before his retirement in the l980s, owned more than six newspapers in West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee. In 1948 was named publisher of the Cleveland Daily Banner in Cleveland, TN. He later served as publisher of the Bristol (VA) Herald-Courier before he purchased The Times in 1955. Among the groups he led or helped lead were the Junior Chamber of Commerce (now Jaycees), the Chamber of Commerce, the Tennessee Technology Foundation, the Pellissippi Parkway extension, the Foothills Parkway construction, establishment of the Greenbelt in downtown Maryville, the Blount County chapter of the American Red Cross, Blount Memorial Hospital Foundation, the Speech and Hearing Foundation, United Way, the Knoxville Symphony, the Knoxville Art Museum. He also was instrumental in raising funds for the Blount County Library when it moved from its Church Avenue location. He served as an honorary chairman for the fund drive to build the current library complex. He was a founding member of the Industrial Development Board. He was honorary chairman for construction of the new Blount County campus of Pellissippi State Community College and was a major supporter of Pellissippi State as well as Maryville College and U-T. He served as a member of the national board of the Audit Bureau of Circulation, headed the Tennessee Press Association and Tennessee Press Foundation and was a member of the board of the National Park Service. In 1990 he was inducted into the Junior Achievement East Tennessee Hall of Fame and in 1994 he received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the University of Tennessee. He was a director of Maryville College for 19 years. The college bestowed on him an honorary LLD degree in 1987. In 1993 the college also awarded him its highest award, the Maryville College Medallion. He was active in the Maryville First Baptist Church and was a member of the Good News Wilburn Hoglen Memorial Sunday School Class. He sold the newspaper in 1989 and devoted himself to philanthropy and traveling. His gift recipients included the University of Tennessee, Maryville College, where the couple established the Bradford Scholars program, the Hearing and Speech Foundation, the Blount County Library where the rotunda is named in honor of he and his late first wife, Lib. Many of his gifts were given anonymously. In 1991, he and his wife, Lib, were named Philanthropists of the Year by the Great Smoky Mountain Chapter of the National Society of Fundraising Professionals. He was preceded in death by his parents, T.S. and Zula Bradford; his first wife, Elizabeth Lib, his second wife, Mercedes Mickey'', two sisters, Zula Lee Wood and Sarah Weiss. Survivors include: two daughters, Nancy Cain, Debbie Moon; soninlaw, Jerome Moon; stepdaughter, Frances Morris (Bob) of Monticello, FL; five grandchildren, Elizabeth ''Liz'' Notter of Gaithersburg, MD, Catherine RobbinsSchumann (Ron Schumann) of Maryville, Amy Dunaway (Seth) of Powell, Julia Phillippi (David) of Brentwood, TN, Sarah Spinosa (Philip) of Memphis; 13 great-grandchildren; a sister, Dot McGhee of Spartanburg, SC; a brother, Randolph Bradford of Pauline, SC. The family wishes to express its heartfelt appreciation to the staff at Shannondales Health Care Center for their wonderful care of both Bradford and his late wife Mickey. Funeral will be at 6 p.m. Monday at First Baptist Church of Maryville with the Rev. Lucas Clabough officiating. The family will receive friends following the service from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the churchs Family Life Center. Private interment will be in New Providence Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the United Way of Blount County. McCammon-Ammons-Click Funeral Home 982-6812.