Over the weekend, Angelo B. Henderson, the beloved Detroit-based Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, died at his home in Pontiac, Mich.
Henderson was 51.
The Detroit News, where Henderson’s wife Felecia Dixon Henderson is the assistant managing editor of features, reported that Henderson collapsed in his home on Saturday, Feb. 15. The cause of death is unknown.
However, other local news outlets are reporting the medical examiner’s office reported Henderson died of natural causes and that there will be no autopsy.
“It’s a real shocker,” said Vickie Thomas, reporter for Detroit’s CBS affiliate WWJ, about the journalist’s death.
While Thomas, who knew Henderson for more than 30 years, repeated the coroner’s explanation that Henderson died of natural causes, she said she believed Henderson was too young to die of natural causes.
Talking about Henderson’s legacy, Thomas added, “He was the voice of the city of Detroit; he cared deeply about the community; he founded the Detroit 300; they would go out and just hunt down criminals and ask people to speak up and to do away with the ‘no snitch’ policy.”
News of Henderson’s death even prompted Mayor Mike Duggan to release a statement.
“Detroiters have lost one of their strongest voices today … Few people have worked as passionately and tirelessly to improve this community than Angelo Henderson,” Duggan said.
“Through his radio program, his ministry and his personal community service, everything Angelo did was meant to uplift our city and its people. In his time with us, he touched countless lives, including my own. My heart goes out to Angelo’s family and to the thousands of fans he considered family.”
Raised in Louisville, Ky., Henderson began to work in the Wall Street Journal’s Detroit-based bureau in 1998, before opening his own writing, speaking and media-consulting firm, Angelo Ink, hosting a talk radio program, and serving as director of community affairs for one of the nation’s fastest-growing Black congregations, Triumph Church, among other things.
It was Henderson’s coverage for the WSJ of an armed robbery at a pharmacy in northwest Detroit that landed him the Pulitzer Prize — journalism’s most prestigious award — in the feature writing category.
“It provides a harrowing, yet empathetic, look at an attempted drugstore stickup that ended in death—the kind of crime that usually fades from public consciousness after a brief blur of publicity,” former top WSJ editor Paul Steiger wrote in his Pulitzer Prize nomination letter for Henderson.
Henderson went on to work for the Detroit News before launching a career as a radio host and minister, and was later inducted into the University of Kentucky’s Alumni Association’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2005 — but he never left Detroit.
“Winning the [Pulitzer Prize] didn’t change him,” said Rebecca Blumenstein, deputy editor in chief for the WSJ, who worked with Henderson in the paper’s Detroit bureau. “He turned down an offer for a high-profile job in New York because he wanted to stay in Detroit.
“His journalism wasn’t that of a crusader or an activist, but was unsparingly evenhanded and truthful to all shades of gray. He was a model for us all.”
His colleagues said Henderson was “one of the friendliest people” who was “very active” within the Detroit community — meaning he didn’t just talk the talk, but walked the walk — which is why they say his work was able to reach so many people.
According to Henderson’s friend and political consultant Steve Hood, Henderson’s radio program “Your Voice with Angelo Henderson” was particularly successful because Henderson discussed issues that were of importance to Detroiters.
“He would start off his show with the crime reports, and you knew exactly what was going on in the city,” Hood said. “I’ll remember him best for keeping us all informed.”
Minister Malik Shabazz, who co-founded Detroit 300 with Henderson and Raphael B. Johnson, agreed with Hood and stressed that Henderson was successful in his career because “he was committed to people living in peace and encouraged people to fight back against crime in their neighborhoods.
“When it comes to crime, Angelo was like a pit bull with lock jaws,” Shabazz said. “The work of Angelo Henderson will continue whenever somebody sees a crime and, instead of pulling down the shade and cutting their lights off like nothing is happening, they open the door and say what are you doing?”
Wendy Cyrus-Herndon, the marketing director for Radio One, where Henderson had his radio program, said Henderson texted her the day before he died and asked that the station do something special for a regular listener who was turning 50 years old.
Cyrus-Herndon said Henderson had been off the air for a few weeks recovering from surgery on his leg after suffering a quadricep tendon rupture when he slipped and fell on the ice last month, but was still dedicated to community service.
“Angelo was a strong pillar in the community, I am saddened by his untimely passing and he will be greatly missed by the entire Detroit community and his Radio One Detroit family,” Kathy Stinehour, VP/General Manager, said in a statement.
“At this time our hearts and prayers are with his wife, son, extended family and his radio family. During the upcoming week we will be honoring our friend and colleague on all four stations in various ways.”
Rev. Solomon Kinloch, Jr., senior pastor of Triumph Church, called Henderson’s death a loss for a Detroit, but said the city’s loss was Heaven’s gain.
“His larger than life personality is visible through his time as an award-winning journalist and radio host, but internally, we also knew Angelo to be a tireless worker behind the scenes whose heart for people in metropolitan Detroit drove him to do monumental things in support of the community,” he said.
Henderson is survived by his wife, Felicia, and 20-year-old son, Grant Henderson.
A visitation for Henderson will be held on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. at Swanson Funeral Home in Detroit.
His funeral will be held at the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit on Monday, Feb. 24 at 11 a.m.