Rufus E. Jones (August 21, 1940 – October 20, 2019)[1] was an American politician and businessman.
Early life
Jones grew up in the Boxtown neighborhood of South Memphis where his father operated Jones Supermarket.[2] As a youngster, he went in the grocery business with his father. Jones and his father also operated another South Memphis grocery store, Jones Big Star.[2][3] He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School and Michigan State University.
He was married to Marvis Kneeland-Jones, a retired schoolteacher. She was a member of the Memphis State Eight, the first group of African-American students to attend the University of Memphis, five years after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of desegregation in Brown v. Board of Education.[7]