A former award-winning editor and columnist for The Detroit News, and a native Detroiter, Keith served in many roles for the newspaper  before retiring in 2005. He had stints as a sports writer, state capitol correspondent, city editor, state editor, business editor, assistant managing editor, public editor and columnist. 

 

In many of those roles, Keith developed and coordinated stories and special reports on quality of life issues affecting Detroit such  as crime, education and neighborhood revitalization. 

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In 1985, Keith took a leave of absence to become the founding director of Wayne State University’s Journalism Institute for Minorities, a program to recruit and train minorities for careers in the media. Keith was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 1995. Keith is a former vice-president with the Detroit chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.