Jerry Norton burial and reception at Arlington National Cemetery, April 11

Jerry Norton, 67, longtime journalist, National Press Club member, and Vietnam war veteran, will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on April 11.

His family invites friends and colleagues to join them at Arlington at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. service, followed by a reception in his memory in downtown D.C.

Norton was a Commodity News Services/Unicom News reporter in Washington before becoming regional editor in Hong Kong and executive editor in London. He spent 25 years in Reuters as a senior correspondent or veteran editor in Hong Kong and Tokyo; was bureau chief in Singapore; bureau chief in Indonesia; and lastly, editor in Washington.

He joined CNS and the NPC in 1974, soon after gaining his Masters in Journalism from Columbia University. Before that, he served in the Army in Vietnam, after having graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon. He left Vietnam with shrapnel in his body and with a purple heart and other decorations.

Between his UNICOM years and his 25-year career at Reuters, Norton served as business editor of the South China Morning Post. He was twice based in Singapore and twice president of Singapore’s Foreign Correspondents Association, besides being a member of the FCC in Hong Kong and the FCCJ and Overseas Press Club in Japan.

Norton worked for Phillips Publishing in Washington at one point early in his career.
After retiring in 2011 from Reuters in D.C., he worked as executive director of the Young America’s Foundation National Journalism Center until he became ill. He had served on the Young Americans for Freedom national board while at the U of Oregon and was active in YAF after his Vietnam service until his journalism career began.

He died Dec. 15, 2013, after a 14-month battle with a brain tumor. Norton is survived by his wife, Kim, and son, Michael.

If you plan to attend the burial service and reception to honor Jerry, please RSVP to Michael Norton at [email protected] and he will provide details of where to meet at Arlington and later.