Howard A. Myrick, 90, a longtime resident of West Mt. Airy and a professor emeritus in communications and media at Temple University, who worked as a broadcasting executive and served in the U.S. Army where he earned the rank of lieutenant colonel, died Nov. 12 of age-related ailments in Palm Coast, Fla., where he owned a second home.
Myrick, the author of two books, taught communications at Temple for 27 years and led the radio, television and film department at Howard University in Washington, D.C., before joining the faculty at Temple. In the Army, Myrick served in the office of the assistant secretary of defense at the Pentagon as commander of the American Forces Radio-Television Network in Korea and director of the American Forces Radio-TV Network worldwide.
“The most important thing I want people to remember is that my dad cared for people,”Myrick’s daughter Keris said. “I used to call him 'the wisdom dropper' because he always shared so much wisdom with me and others. He always wanted to be a mentor to his students. Some of them thought he was a hard-ass because he held them to a high standard. He did that because he knew they could achieve. He was a wise owl. When I was young, I could not always appreciate this about him, but when I got older, I realized that he cared enough to stretch my mind. He was a very special man.
Myrick was born in Dawson, Georgia, and grew up Jacksonville, Florida. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Florida A&M University and a master’s and doctorate degree from the University of Southern California where he studied cinema and education technology. Before coming to Philadelphia, he lived in cities including Paris, Rome, Berlin, Dakar, Cairo, Seoul and Saigon as a military officer, serving as an adviser in psychological operations and political warfare in Vietnam.
Myrick knew what it is like to overcome odds and to battle racist attitudes and practices. Growing up in the racially segregated South, Myrick told the Local a few years ago that he “experienced first-hand what it’s like to feel less than a full citizen for whom the words 'all men are created equal' did not apply.
A keen observer of current events, Myrick wrote “Protect and Defend: the U.S. Promise and Performance (in an Age of Uncertainty),” released in April of 2023. The book chronicled Myrick's perspective from the 1960s to the present day, observing and commenting on the political landscape he saw and experienced for over 50 years. Myrick’s earlier book, “Surviving Toxic 'Isms' and Polarizing Dissent; Protecting Our Democracy” was released just before the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“It is frightening,” Myrick wrote, “to witness current — and successful — efforts targeting banning of books, politicizing public education, pitting parents against public school teachers, even politicizing academic practices in colleges and universities. So much of the political discourse and practices lead to a frightening concern that our nation is on a slippery slope toward authoritarianism.”
Raquel Sage Ortiz, a treasured friend who helped care for Myrick because of debilitating afflictions over the last year and a half, remembered Myrick as her partner in having fun, but “Our shared values were more important than anything. Howard was kind, thoughtful, brilliant, engaging, unique, special and had a strong moral fiber. The last year and a half was so tough being the main caretaker 24/7 because he was so sick, but I was so lucky to have him in my life.”
Myrick’s wife Roberta had died earlier.
Keris Myrick said that while she was growing up, the Myrick children were, in at least one way, the envy of the neighborhood. “Everybody wanted him to be their father,” Keris said. “Friends would say to me, 'I wish he could be my dad' or 'I will be glad to share him with you.' He was so accepting and always inviting people in. The guy who cleaned pools in Florida told me that to most people he was invisible but that my dad would engage him in wonderful conversations. He taught me the importance of respect for people of all cultures.”
Myrick also has a son, Kyl, who studied at Harvard University and is now a microbiologist in Massachusetts. Myrick’s books are available on amazon.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com
