Edmond Wroe Freeman III (1926–2021)

Edmond Freeman was an Arkansas newspaper publisher and editor best known for his leadership of the Pine Bluff Commercial in the late twentieth century. During his tenure, the newspaper gained national recognition for its editorial positions in support of civil rights and environmental conservation, most notably its role in efforts to promote the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School and to preserve the Buffalo River in northwestern Arkansas.

Edmond Wroe Freeman III was born on May 31, 1926, in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County), one of three children of Elizabeth Councill Freeman, who ran the home, and E. W. Freeman Jr., son of the paper’s then publisher, E. W. Freeman.

Freeman attended public schools locally and graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1943. After a year at the Citadel in South Carolina, Freeman entered the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1947. A commissioned officer who achieved the rank of lieutenant, he served aboard the USS Badoeng Strait, an escort aircraft carrier that operated in the Pacific following World War II.

He married June Biber in 1950, and the couple had four children. After leaving active duty in 1952, he undertook graduate study in philosophy at the University of Chicago, leaving without obtaining a degree.

Freeman joined the Pine Bluff Commercial as a reporter and succeeded his father as publisher in 1960. Freeman and his brother, Armistead Freeman, jointly managed the Commercial and later acquired and operated newspapers in Arkadelphia (Clark County) and Yazoo City, Mississippi. The Pine Bluff Commercial, founded in 1881 by Freeman’s great-grandfather, Charles Gordon Newman, remained under family ownership until 1986.

Under Freeman’s leadership, the Commercial adopted a consistent editorial stance opposing racial segregation during the Jim Crow era. Freeman worked closely with editorial page editor Paul Greenberg in shaping the newspaper’s editorial stance. In 1969, Greenberg received the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing for a series of civil rights editorials published by the Commercial, bringing national attention to the newspaper and to Arkansas journalism. Freeman also supported editorial efforts opposing the construction of dams on the Buffalo River, contributing to the campaign that resulted in the river’s designation in 1972 as the first National River in the United States.

After the sale of the Pine Bluff Commercial in 1986, Freeman remained active in civic and philanthropic activities, supporting organizations focused on the arts, architecture, healthcare, and education. He maintained broad intellectual interests, particularly in literature, philosophy, history, and the sciences.

Freeman was an active outdoorsman throughout his life. He frequently canoed on Arkansas rivers, including the Buffalo, Caddo, Eleven Point, and Mulberry, and was an accomplished hiker and mountaineer. His climbs included Mount Whitney, Mount Kilimanjaro in 1986, and Mount Fuji in 2005.

Freeman died on May 3, 2021, at his home in Little Rock (Pulaski County). His wife of more than seventy years, well-known arts advocate and civic organizer June Freeman, died in 2024.

For additional information:
Bowden, Bill. “Pine Bluff Publisher Freeman Dies at 94.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 4, 2021, p. 3B. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/may/04/pine-bluff-publisher-freeman-dies-at-94/ (accessed March 20, 2026).

Edmond Freeman. David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History. https://pryorcenter.uark.edu/interview.php?thisProject=Arkansas%20Memories&thisProfileURL=FREEMAN-Edmond&displayName=Edmond%20Freeman&thisInterviewee=446 (accessed March 20, 2026).

Murrell, L. C. “Commercial’s Former Publisher Dies at 94.” Pine Bluff Commercial, May 4, 2021, pp. 1, 2. Online at https://www.pbcommercial.com/news/2021/may/04/commercials-formerpublisher-dies-at-94/ (accessed March 20, 2026).