Donn T. Sutton, 54, director of public relations and advertising for Borg-Warner Corp with offices in Chicago and son of Wilbur E. Sutton, illustrious editor of the Muncie Evening Press who died 10 years ago, died in a Chicago hospital Friday. He had undergone surgery Jan. 7.
His mother, who resides at 108 McCullough Blvd., who spent the holidays with him and his family at their home in Northbrook, Ill., extended her visit when it became known that he would be hospitalized, and she was with the family at his bedside.
Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Monday at Kenilworth Union Church, Kenilworth, Ill., and burial will be made in Memorial Park, Ridge Rd. and Harrison St., Skokie, Ill. Friends may call at the Carroll Funeral Home, 25 E. Erie St., Chicago.
Besides his mother, he is survived by his wife, Esther; a son, Wood, Ft. Riley, Kans., a daughter, Mrs. Jerome Victor, Davison, Mich., and a granddaughter.
Sutton had not been in good health since he broke a hip while on vacation in Arizona last April. However, he had resumed his duties and none of the family knew about any other condition that would require major surgery until a few days before the operation was performed.
A native of Muncie, he graduated from Central High School and attended Ball State College and McGill University, at Montreal. He was a reporter for the Evening Press during his high school days and after attending Ball State, he was employed as a reporter for Scripps-Howard Newspapers in Cleveland. He joined the editorial staff of the Miami (Fla.) Herald as a reporter in 1925 and returned to Muncie the following year to become managing editor of the Evening Press. He became eastern manager of the Newspaper Enterprise Ass'n (NEA) in New York City in 1928, eventually becoming its editor-in-chief. In that job he reported the Battle of Britain in 1941 and campaigns in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, and was director of American photographers in the Mediterranean theater in 1943.
After leaving NEA, he directed public relations for National Homes of Lafayette before joining Borg-Warner in 1946. He became widely known among automobile race fans as custodian of the big Borg-Warner trophy for the 500-mile Memorial Day race. He presided at the elaborate Borg-Warner Speedway party the night before the race at the Columbia Club, but he missed it last year on account of the injuries he suffered in Arizona.
