Westbrooks named SLDC president and CEO
St. Louis American See page A12
The
Serving, empowering and advocating for equity in St. Louis since 1928
Vol. 97 No. 47
MARCH 5 – 11, 2026
COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
John H. Ferring IV, quiet builder of St. Louis arts and civic life, dies at 73 By Kenya Vaughn St. Louis American John H. Ferring IV moved through St. Louis in a way that made it easy to overlook just how much he helped build. With his familiar uniform of polo shirts and khaki pants, he blended into rooms — even rooms in buildings that bore his name. That was intentional. He preferred to be known simply as John and believed the work should speak louder than he did. Ferring died Monday, March 2, from an undisclosed ailment. He was 73. “John believed profoundly in what St. Louis
John Ferring was the former executive chairman and founder of PLZ Corp. Ferring died March 2, at the age of 73.
could become, particularly as a cultural destination of national and international significance,” said Donald M. Suggs, publisher of The St. Louis American. “He will be deeply missed, but the work he and (his wife) Alison devoted themselves to — expanding opportunity across every ZIP code and strengthening the arts and culture ecosystem we all share — will resonate for generations.” His humility was consistent, not an affectation. He insisted people call him by his first name. “Mr. Ferring was my father,” he told a reporter
See Ferring, A12 Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Missing persons coverage
Guthrie case spotlights glaring disparities By Sylvester Brown Jr. St. Louis American
Photo by Lawrence Bryant / St. Louis American
From left: Stephanie Grise, board chair of ArchCity Defenders, and Executive Director Blake Strode, activists Percy Green II and Jamala Rogers, and Kayla Reed, co-founder and executive director of Action St. Louis, celebrate the grand opening of the Northside Movement Center on Friday, Feb. 27. The new center will serve as home to both organizations.
‘Today is about legacy’
New North St. Louis hub anchors legal, grassroots work By Ashley Winters St. Louis American For the leaders behind the Northside Movement Center, the opening of the renovated building represents more than the completion of a construction project. It signals a long-term investment in community organizing, civic engagement and neighborhood leadership in North St. Louis. The building will house Action St. Louis and ArchCity Defenders, organizations whose leaders say the center represents permanence in a part of the city long defined by disinvestment. “It’s a love letter to the people and communities in this region that have been neglected, overlooked and that have been counted out,” said Blake Strode, executive director of ArchCity Defenders.
See Northside, A13
“This is a place where we can serve together, organize together and transform St. Louis together. North City is the North Star.” – Kayla Reed, executive director of Action St. Louis
The disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has dominated national news coverage in recent weeks. Part of that attention reflects the troubling details of the case. But the intense coverage may also reflect two factors often cited by researchers studying missing persons cases: Nancy Guthrie is white, and she is the mother of a well-known television journalist. Advocates and researchers say those factors can influence how much public attention a missing persons case receives. While Black peoTheda Wilson ple make up about 14% of the U.S. population, Black women and children account for a disproportionately large share of missing persons cases, according to FBI data and advocacy organizations. “They don’t take Black women’s cases seriously like they do (with) our white sisters,” said Missouri state Sen. Angela Mosley, who has sponsored legislation aimed at addressing violence and disappearances involving Black women and girls. “When a white person goes missing, we see them constantly all over social media, all over TV,” Mosley said, adding. “We never hear about Black women when they go missing.” The disparity has been described as “missing white woman syndrome,” a phrase coined by the late PBS NewsHour co-anchor Gwen Ifill to describe the ten-
See Missing, A12