Lois Wright, the longest serving member of NABOB’s Board of Directors, passed away recently after battling cancer. Lois Wright was one of the pillars of NABOB. Lois joined Inner City Broadcasting Corporation (ICBC) in 1980 as General Counsel, and she joined the NABOB Board of Directors as Counsel to the Board that same year. She was later promoted to Executive Vice President of ICBC.
Left to Right: Mutter Evans, former NABOB station owner, and Lois Wright
In her career at ICBC, Lois was instrumental in the company’s growth to become the largest Black owned radio company in the late 1980s. She also helped lead ICBC’s acquisition, construction and operation of a cable television franchise in Queens, New York.
In 1985, Lois helped launch the NABOB Communications Awards Dinner, which honored some of the greatest Black legends in music, film, news, politics, and entertainment.
Left to Right: NABOB 2000 honorees Stan Lathen, Gladys Knight, and Harry Belafonte, with Lois Wright, Doug Banks, Jim Winston
Lois’s road to ICBC and NABOB began with earning a B.A. degree in American Studies from Douglas College at Rutgers University in 1970. After attending the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, Lois transferred to the Rutgers School of Law and graduated with her J.D. degree from there in 1973. Upon graduation, Lois was hired by the City of Newark as an attorney in the corporation counsel’s office. She became a lawyer for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1977, and served there for three years in the Broadcast Bureau as well as the Office of Plans and Policy.
Left to Right: Ed Shirley, Lois, Chesley Maddox Dorsey and NABOB Board Member Steve Roberts
Lois speaking at a NABOB Conference
Jim Winston, NABOB President and CEO, said, “I have very fond memories of working with Lois over our many years together. Lois was on the NABOB Board when I was hired as Executive Director in 1982. She helped me learn about the NABOB membership and the overall broadcast industry. We put on the NABOB Communications Awards Dinner from 1985 to 2011, and had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with most of the notable Black talent in the United States during those dinners. Dining with celebrities such as, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Colin Powell, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Stevie Wonder, and Smokey Robinson, gave us stories to share for many years.”
Left to Right: NABOB 1999 Honoree Hal Jackson, NABOB Board Member Carol Cutting, Special Guest Berry Gordy, Lois Wright, NABOB 2003 Honoree Diana Ross, Jim Winston
Winston added, “My friendship with Lois goes back to our days as young attorneys at the FCC. She and I had a very close friendship in NABOB, and my career at NABOB would not have been the same without her. Lois was smart, very well read, outspoken, a great lawyer, and an astute business executive. She was also a kind person and great friend. I will miss her very much.”
Lois surrounded by family and friends, including her sister Karen to her left, and her mother Elsie Wright seated in the middle
Lois with 2004 Honorees Patti LaBelle, Jeffrey Wright and August Wilson, with Mistress of Ceremonies Kim Coles, Special Guest Phylicia Rashad, and the NABOB Board and dais guests
Lois with 2005 Honorees Vanessa Williams and Denyce Graves, with Jim Winston and former NABOB Chairman Pierre Sutton
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