Ruth Antoinette Batton Campbell

06/30/1939 - 03/27/2020

Obituary For Ruth Antoinette Batton Campbell

Funeral services will be Wednesday, April 1, 2020 at 11:00 a.m., Garden Memorial Park, 8001 Highway 49, Jackson, MS 39209.

Ruth Antoinette Batton Campbell was born on June 30, 1939 in Benton, Mississippi to Viola Brice and Cleophas Batton. Campbell received her A.A. degree from Coahoma Junior College in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1959, her B.S. degree in language arts from Jackson State College in 1961, and her M.A. degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1970.

Campbell taught English, French, public speaking and literature as a public school teacher before she worked with the Mississippi Research and Development Center as a market analyst. She later entered broadcasting at the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television, where she served as host of the longest running minority-oriented public affairs series in the state. She served as script editor, producer, director, and became the executive producer for all public affairs programming at the network.

Also notably, she was a Special Assistant to Governor Ray Mabus. Campbell also served as Associate Director at the Jackson State Univ. Lifelong Learning Center. She ended her career as the Deputy Director for the City of Jackson's Dept. of Human & Cultural Services, under Mayor Harvey Johnson.

She has been the recipient of a Humanitarian Award from the University of Southern Mississippi, Presidential Citation for Alumni of the Year Award, a Distinguished Leadership Award from the Pearl Street AME Church, and a Founders Award from the National Black Programming Consortium, among others.

Campbell chaired the National Black Programming Consortium and also served on the advisory board for Catholic Charities, the advisory council for 21st Century Community Learning Center, and was a founding member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (Jackson), and Friends of Public Broadcasting, which is within the Mississippi Educational Television Network.

Visitation will be at Westhaven Funeral Home on March 31st from 11am to 6pm. Survivors: Leon Campbell, Spouse, Children: Kimberly, Sheva, Cord (Erin) and six grandchildren.

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