Phyllis T. Garland, 70; journalist, faculty member at Columbia grad school

Phyllis T. Garland, 70, the first tenured woman on the faculty of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, died Nov. 7 of cancer in a New York City hospice, according to the university.

In addition to her cultural affairs reporting and writing class, Garland was a master’s project advisor and served as administrator of the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia.

A native of McKeesport, Pa., Garland graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism. She began her career as a reporter and then an editor for the Pittsburgh Courier. Throughout her career, she covered issues relevant to blacks, including the march on Washington, the civil rights movement and discrimination in housing, education and the arts, according to Columbia.

She later became the New York editor of Ebony magazine. A connoisseur of popular music, she also was a contributing editor of Stereo Review. In 1969, she wrote the book “The Sound of Soul,” a comprehensive look at black music.

She joined the Columbia faculty in 1973 as an assistant professor and was made a full professor in 1989. She retired in 2004.