James “Bryant” Steele, Jr., 67, of Rome, GA, passed away Wednesday, June 12, 2019.

Bryant was born on April 3, 1952, a son of the late James Bryant Steele, Sr. and Mary Elizabeth Christian Steele.  He went to work at the Rome News-Tribune in December of 2007 as the business editor but began his journalism career as the editor of the University of Georgia’s Red & Black newspaper.  He also worked at the Augusta Chronicle and The Macon Telegraph.  Bryant’s career then moved on to work for AT&T and was a media spokesman for the company when a bomb went off in the AT&T Pavilion at Centennial Park during the 1996 Olympics.  In the days following, Bryant became the point person for much of the information disseminated to the media. Also, in the wake of the bombing, he arranged interviews for the security guard who found the bomb and alerted authorities to its presence.

As a freelancer, before coming to Rome, his work was published in Newsweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta magazine, Elysian Fields, The Charlotte Observer, TechLinks, The Brief and Georgia on My Mind.  Since leaving the Rome News-Tribune he wrote a Cents & Sensibility column in V3 Magazine from May 2010 through April of 2018, focusing on hot-button topics surrounding politics, business and modern culture.

Bryant is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Katy and Ean Brandon of St. George, Utah; son and daughter-in-law, Lt. Jackson Steele (US Army) and wife Briana Steele (RN), of Fort Knox, Kentucky; one brother and sister-in-law, Gary and Missy Steele of Covington.

A Celebration of Life for Bryant will be held on Thursday afternoon, at 1 p.m. June 20 at Saint Peters Episcopal Church with the Rev. John Herring, Rector, officiating.  Inurnment will follow in the Cremation Garden.

The staff of Salmon Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of James “Bryant” Steele, Jr.