Photography courtesy of Julius Hunter
Julius Hunter’s official bio runs eight full pages. Instead, he graciously offered to cut it down to a more manageable account:
Hunter won multiple awards during 33 years in the public eye, with five years as an anchor/reporter at Channel 5 and 28 years at Channel 4. He served an At Your Service stint on KMOX Radio and wrote a weekly column about St. Louis history for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Among his accomplishments, he's authored seven books, traveled three times with Pope John Paul II, and done one-on-one interviews with six incumbent U.S. presidents. He has interviewed more celebrities than he can count, including Oprah, Milton Berle, Yogi Berra, Pearl Bailey, Julio Iglesias, Ted Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, Cab Calloway, Walter Cronkite, and Bob Hope. His favorite exclusive interview? He gushes: “Sophia Loren! I got to escort her on my arm to her seat at a big banquet. My heart has not stopped fibrillating yet.”
Hunter also hosted the popular children’s program Do The Right Thing for 10 years. He was the longtime host of a music program at KFUO Radio that highlighted young African-American musicians. He founded the Julius K. Hunter & Friends African American Research Center at the St. Louis County Library, and served a four-year term as a St. Louis police commissioner.
Of what is he proudest? “My two brilliant and beautiful daughters, who are both Harvard Honors graduates, great moms and wives.”
And does he have any future projects in the works? “For six years now, I’ve been researching, writing, and editing what will be a blockbuster,” he says. “It is the true story of two unrelated African-American slave girls born on Old South plantations who made their way to St. Louis after emancipation and became two of the wealthiest bordello madams in Victorian St. Louis. All I need now is a publisher.”
