Harold Ray Mosby Jr. spent more than four decades in Mississippi journalism, establishing himself as one of the state’s most gifted writers and passionate champions of community journalism.
Born Jan. 23, 1951, in Clarksdale, Mosby was reared in the small Coahoma County community of Coahoma. He graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in English and began his newspaper career in the early 1980s at the Clarksdale Press Register.
Mosby started as a reporter and later became managing editor of the Press Register, working under noted Mississippi newspaperman Joe Ellis. It was there that Mosby developed the reporting and writing skills that would distinguish his career and met his wife, Phyllis, who also worked at the newspaper as a designer.
In 1993, Ray and Phyllis Mosby purchased the Deer Creek Pilot in Rolling Fork. For the next two decades, they worked side by side producing the weekly newspaper and serving the people of Sharkey and Issaquena counties. Mosby continued operating the Pilot following Phyllis’ death in 2013.
As editor and publisher of the Deer Creek Pilot, Mosby embodied the tradition of the small-town newspaperman. He reported the news, wrote editorials, took photographs, sold advertising and performed the countless other duties necessary to publish a community newspaper.
More importantly, he understood the essential role a newspaper plays in the life of its community.
Mosby devoted his considerable talents to chronicling the everyday lives of the people of the Mississippi Delta. His reporting, photography and editorial writing reflected both a deep understanding of the region and an unwavering commitment to the people who called it home.
Over the course of his career, Mosby earned hundreds of awards for excellence in journalism. He was particularly renowned for his editorial writing and three times received the J. Oliver Emmerich Editorial Excellence Award, the Mississippi Press Association’s highest honor for opinion writing.
Mosby was also a dedicated leader within the Mississippi newspaper industry. He served on the Mississippi Press Association Board of Directors beginning in 2012 and was serving as the Association’s treasurer at the time of his death.
Beyond journalism, Mosby was active in the civic life of his community. He served as a longtime officer of the Rolling Fork Rotary Club and as a member of the board of directors of Mississippi’s Lower Delta Partnership.
Known for his wit, strong opinions and sometimes carefully cultivated reputation as a curmudgeon, Mosby possessed a deep generosity and an extraordinary understanding of people. His devotion to his family, friends, community and profession earned him the admiration and affection of colleagues throughout Mississippi.
Mosby died Nov. 9, 2021, following a short illness. He was 70.
Ray Mosby represented community journalism at its finest. Through the pages of the Deer Creek Pilot, he gave a powerful voice to the people of Sharkey and Issaquena counties and demonstrated the indispensable role a newspaper can play in the life of a community. His exceptional writing, fierce independence and lifelong devotion to Mississippi journalism established a standard for generations of newspapermen and women who followed.
