Ernest Culloden Hynds Jr., a professor emeritus in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, died Aug. 17 after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 84.
Kent Middleton, who succeeded Hynds as head of the journalism department from 1999 to 2013, said Hynds was a beloved teacher, noted media historian, authority on contemporary magazines and respected administrator.
“Hynds’ love of journalism and its rich history inspired generations of students,” said Middleton, a professor of journalism at Grady College.
Born Oct. 10, 1930, in Atlanta, Hynds earned a bachelor’s degree from Emory University with a major in journalism and a minor in political science. At UGA, he earned a master’s degree with a major in political science and a minor in journalism as well as a doctorate in history. Hynds also served in the Army from 1952 to 1954.
Hynds worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB Radio in Atlanta, before joining the UGA faculty in 1953. He retired from the university in 1999 after 43 years at Grady College, which included more than a decade as head of the journalism department. He also worked part-time as an editorial writer for the Athens Banner-Herald.
Hynds was the author of Antebellum Athens and Clarke County; American Newspapers in the 1970s, and a sequel, American Newspapers in the 1980s. More recently, he wrote Always Becoming New, a history of the First Baptist Church of Athens. His latest work was Celebrations and Challenges for Christians.
Survivors include two sons, Ernest Jefferson Hynds and his wife, Angela, and Mark Hynds and his wife, Cindy; granddaughter Dovie Ann and grandsons Ernest Gentry and Reese Dylan.
Funeral services were held Aug. 21 at the First Baptist Church of Athens.
