Elijah Cameron, director of Community Relations at Chattanooga’s Bessie Smith Cultural Center, remembers Mr. Anthony Cebrun-Adams as not only his former employer, but also as his friend.
Mr. Cebrun-Adams, fondly known as Tony, passed away peacefully on Feb. 17, in Houston, Texas. He was 75.
“Tony was a friend of all,” Cameron said. “His demeanor was easy-going, and he was all about helping the community.”
Mr. Cebrun-Adams was the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Access Med Plus–the largest managed care organization providing services to TennCare, a Tennessee state-run Medicaid alternative insurance program responsible for more than 300,000 underserved and uninsured Tennesseans.
He was also the founder of Healthcare International Management Company, which provided services in Africa, Central America, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean Basin.
From 1990-2000, Cameron served as regional director at the managed care organization Mr. Cebrun-Adams owned and oversaw offices in both Nashville and Chattanooga.
“Tony was a visionary, and his outlook was that we need to take care of our own,” Cameron shared. “But not only that, he was a teacher. Whenever I was with him, I got a lot of information out of him. He started out as my boss and mentor, but we became friends.”
Mr. Cebrun-Adams was well-known for his charitable contributions to underserved communities and for the 33-year-old Anthony J. Cebrun Journalism Center in Nashville (Tennessee Tribune Building) named in his honor.
Mr. Cebrun-Adams earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Dillard University, New Orleans; a master’s in public health from the University of Michigan and a juris doctorate from Woodrow Wilson College of Law in Atlanta.
He is survived by devoted sons, Jamaal Cebrun-Adams, Terrance (Terry) Hester, and Fabien Jolivette (godson); brothers and sisters, Darrell Green (Edith Green), Margret Green, Trenis Shields (Alberta Shields), Darlene Shields, Vanessa D. Adams, Ray A. Adams, Deborah Adams, Paulette Adams, Effie Rhodes, and Stephanie Adams and a host of grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives, and friends.
Mr. Cebrun-Adams is also survived by close friends in Nashville: Ervina Jarrett, Omaran D. Lee, Dr. Bobby Jones, Atty. Richard Manson, Rosetta Miller-Perry, Dale Robinson, Ivan Davis, Dr. Winson Griner, Al Head, Joseph Rochester and Adrian Jones; and from Houston, Walter and Carolyn Richards, as well as hundreds of people that benefited from his life’s work to ensure health care to the underserved and uninsured.
Viewing for Mr. Cebrun-Adams will take place from 9-10 a.m. on March 4, at O.W. Wiley Mortuary in Marie’s Chapel, 1290 Pinemont Dr., Houston. Funeral service will follow at 10 a.m., at the same location.
Flowers can be sent to Wiley Mortuary, www.owwileymortuary.com.
For more information, contact Darrell Green at (281) 989-4617.