Publisher Thomas H. Watkins leaves rich legacy to build on
Thomas H. Watkins, September 1937 – Dec. 19, 2025, was the founder, CEO, and publisher of the New York Daily Challenge, a Black daily newspaper in New York City.
“We salute the legacy of Thomas H. Watkins and we express our sincerest condolences to the Watkins family. May his memory be a blessing to all,” commented Dr. Ben Chavis, President/CEO, NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association).
At its height of operation, Watkins’ flagship publication reached thousands of readers, brought in nearly $30M per year, and employed dozens of African Americans from its corporate headquarters in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. It reached a broad audience, and attracted corporate advertisers, including Pfizer, General Electric, and Ford. The New York Daily Challenge won awards for delivering breaking news, candidly reporting on high-ranking politicians and other prominent figures, and providing a global outlook on the Black experience.
An advocate for the power of the Black voice and dollar, Watkins comes from a long line of African Americans seeking to elevate the Black community. His grandfather argued before Congress for federal protections for Black Americans from lynching. His father helped more than triple the circulation of the Amsterdam News, New York’s oldest and the first completely unionized Black newspaper in the United States.
Watkins is noted for saying, “The question isn’t why do we have one African American newspaper. It’s why don’t we have more?” Over the decades, Watkins became a Black print media mogul founding and acquiring titles including the Afro Times, New American, Jersey City Challenge, Patterson-Passaic Challenge, and Newark Challenge. “When you talk to Thomas Watkins, Jr., you sense a force of will that cannot be diverted from its goal,” The Atlanta Daily World wrote in a profile of the entrepreneur. “For Watkins, the ultimate goal is the economic independence of Afro-Americans.”
From 1989-1992, Watkins served as president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and continued to serve decades after. A successful entrepreneur, visionary, and activist, Watkins often was a featured keynote speaker. Among his keynotes speeches are those delivered to the United Way, Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and The Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina). He was a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Comus Club, and Reveille Club. He lived in Brooklyn, New York, when he continued to advocate for the financial empowerment of African Americans.
He is survived by Kevin Thomas Watkins (brother), Kerri Watkins (daughter), Thomas H. Watkins III (son), eight grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and a host of nieces and nephews.
