BIOGRAPHY

You can add another title to Julius Hunter's long list of job credits. In his previous lives Hunter has earned stripes as a junior high teacher, church organist and choirmaster, music composer and conductor, advertising copywriter, television news anchorman and reporter, radio talk show host, newspaper columnist, restaurateur, gourmet chef and cooking instructor, civic and cultural board trustee, university administrator and adjunct professor, historian, author, lecturer, genealogist, philanthropist ... and now, Police Board Commissioner.

On February 9th, 2006, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt appointed Hunter to the five-member St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners for a four-year term. That position propels Hunter to the title and rank of "Colonel." In making the announcement Governor Blunt said of Hunter: “Julius Hunter is an integral and influential part of the St. Louis community. I’ve asked him to accept this position because I know of his concern and compassion for and love for the people of St. Louis.”

At the time of the gubernatorial appointment to the Police Board, Hunter served as Vice President for Community Relations at Saint Louis Univeristy. He came to SLU in late 2002 immediately after a distinguished 33-year career as an award-winning broadcast journalist at two local television stations: Channel 5 (NBC) for five years and Channel 4 (CBS) for twenty-eight years.

In his university administrator's role, Hunter was a member of President Lawrence Biondi's executive staff. He represented the University to various civic, cultural and institutional boards, initiatives and community groups. Hunter worked daily to take the University into the community and assure the community's welcome to the SLU campus. His office forged strong relations with a number of community groups who sought the University's support in neighborhood improvement projects.

Among its many and varied involvements, the SLU Community Relations Office has sponsored reading and self-esteem improvement programs at a local shelter for battered, pregnant women and with a public school for pregnant girls. The office has sponsored successful programs during which companies owned by minorities and women could strike up potential business deals with SLU purchasing agents. Nationally known guests like CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Wolf Blitzer have spoken on campus as a result of invitations from SLU Community Relations. Hunter’s office sponsored a SLU campus concert by the Boys Choir of Kenya in October, 2004. The office also produced a brochure to help save a century old African American cemetery. And with the help of the SLU athletics department and the St. Louis Cardinals, Hunter’s office dispatched a van-load of sports equipment and T-shirts to orphans 8,000 miles away in Djibouti, Africa.

The SLU Community Relations office found on-campus housing for the St. Louis Association for Gifted Education ( S.A.G.E.) and has brought major events to the SLU campus including the anti-cancer “AMC Walk for Women.” Under Hunter’s guidance, SLU’s Community Relations office also created an interdisciplinary lesson plan to prepare inner city youngsters for a day camp experience at the Lay Center for Education and the Arts, University owned property in Pike County, Mo. So far, more than 500 young people who would normally spend their day surrounded by asphalt and concrete have spent a fun day in the wilderness. Plans are underway to triple that number in the coming year.

And for ten years he was the permanent radio host for KFUO’s
“Young Heroes in Music” program which featured the musical talents of African American high school students with exceptional skills.

Hunter’s work with young people was also exemplified in his work for more than ten years as the host of “Do the Right Thing” program featured on KMOV, Channel 4.