QUINCY, MASS. (WHDH) - A beloved member of the 7NEWS family received a special recognition posthumously.
Therman Toon was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame on Thursday – a special honor recognizing his trailblazing career, which included being the first Black television news photographer in Boston.
Toon joined Channel 7 in 1968 and for more than three decades, worked the streets with a camera on his shoulder and a nose for news.
Reporters who worked with Therman appreciated all he brought to the job and all of his family connections as the youngest son of eleven children growing up in Dorchester.
“Therman really saved my little rear end a lot of times in the stories because he knew everybody!” said retired reporter Byron Barnett.
“Therman was the unofficial Mayor of Boston and that would give me a free ticket to go into all of the various communities because I was a friend of Therman Toon, as opposed to Gary Armstrong, Channel 7 reporter,” said Gary Armstrong, another Channel 7 alum.
Therman, affectionately known as “Noot,” was the first Black news photographer in New England, a trailblazer who courageously covered racial tensions over court-ordered busing in the 70s.
“Therman was shooting it as a Black man, as a Black parent with children in the Boston Public School system,” a longtime friend said of Toon.
He met the rich and famous and shot countless news stories over his career. At his induction ceremony, Armstrong had the honor of paying tribute to his close friend and longtime colleague. Therman’s widow, Cathy, was also in attendance, as well as his proud kids Nicky and Marlon.
“When leaving places, my dad used to say ‘Toon is out, stay tuned,” Therman’s daughter Nicole said during the induction. “Today, I’m really happy to say ‘Toon’s in.'”
Therman spent 37 years at Channel 7 before passing away in 2005 at the age of 62.
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