John Oliver Emmerich, the man former governor William Winter called “one of Mississippi’s most outstanding journalists and civic leaders and business leaders”, was editor and publisher of the Greenwood Commonwealth from 1973 to 1995. A champion of the role of the newspaper as a progressive force in the community, Emmerich made it a guiding principle of the Commonwealth for more than 21 years.
With Greenwood as his headquarters, Emmerich expanded the family-owned newspaper group to include three daily newspapers, two twice-weekly newspapers and eight weekly newspapers. Twelve of the 13 papers are located in Mississippi, the other in Louisiana.
Emmerich won numerous awards from the Mississippi Press Association for his editorial and column writing. He was a two-time recipient of the J. Oliver Emmerich Editorial Excellence Award, which was named for his late father, longtime editor and publisher of the McComb Enterprise-Journal.
Emmerich was an active member of the Mississippi Press Association and encouraged all of his newspapers to be involved in the association. He served as MPA president in 1982, as did his father in 1928, and was the first chairman of the Mississippi Press Association Education Foundation. Under his guidance the foundation began fundraising efforts to annually award scholarships to outstanding Mississippi journalism students.
He was a leader in national press organizations as well. For nine years, Emmerich served as a director for the Associated Press, including one year as vice chairman. He also served on the boards of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.
Emmerich taught journalism at Mississippi Valley State University, which cited him for outstanding community service. He received the University of Mississippi’s “Silver Em” award, the University of Southern Mississippi’s “Mississippi Medalist” award and the Mississippi University for Women’s “Silver Inky” award for journalism. He was also a recipient of the prestigious Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University.
Emmerich's father, J.O. Emmerich, was inducted into the Mississippi Press Hall of Fame in its inaugural year of 1996.
Emmerich died at age 65 of a heart attack at his home on February 25, 1995. His son, Wyatt Emmerich, publisher of The Northside Sun and president of Emmerich Newspapers, continues the family's newspaper publishing legacy.
