John Oliver Sr.; Black Newspaper Chain Executive

John J. Oliver Sr., 86, former president and chief operating officer of the Baltimore-based Afro-American Newspapers. Born in Brazil, Ind., Oliver was the son of a former slave who became a physician. He was the grandson of John H. Murphy Sr., who founded the Afro-American chain in 1892. After graduating from DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., Oliver moved to Baltimore to join the family business in 1935. At its peak, the newspaper group published 13 editions a week and circulated from New Jersey to South Carolina. The papers chronicled discrimination against blacks and covered sports, social events and other news about blacks largely ignored by the white media. The black press began a slow decline in the 1970s, however, as general-interest newspapers began to hire more black reporters and provide better coverage of blacks. Oliver’s company now publishes weeklies in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and plans to start a quarterly historical magazine called the Afro Chronicles. The dedicated but unassuming Oliver, during his 47-year career with the newspaper group, oversaw the mechanical and technical sides of the publishing operation. On Friday in Silver Spring, Md.