Mott, John R. Jr.

John R. Mott, Jr., Cookeville newspaper publisher, seventy-one, dies. . .

John R. Mott Jr., 71, a Cookeville native who moved to Panama City Beach, FL, in 1987, died yesterday at home.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete. The body will be at Hooper and Huddleston Funeral Home, Cookeville.

Mr. Mott worked for about forty years in advertising, reporting and newspaper and magazine publishing. He began his career in the early 1940s as a district circulation manager for the former Newspaper Printing Corp., agent for The Tennessean and the Nashville Banner. He then worked as a state news correspondent until 1960, covering the Cookeville area for the Tennessean. It merged with the Putnam County Herald in 1960. He continued as co-publisher and advertising director of the two newspapers until he sold his interest in 1968.

Mr. Mott became advertising director in 1968 for Kuhn’s Big K Stores Corp., a position he held until the company merged with Walmart in the early 1980s. He also operated two retail businesses, the Franklin Road Garden Center in Brentwood and, later, Discount Junction in Lewisburg.

Mr. Mott served in the Army during World War II. He was married to the late Jane Taylor Mott. Survivors include a daughter, Janet Mott Wright, Brentwood; a son, John R. Mott III, Franklin; a sister, Willa Roach, Oak Ridge; a brother, Stacy Mott, Cookeville, and three grandchildren.