Wilbert Greenfield, the tenth president of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, has died. He was 86 years old.
A native of Seven Springs, North Carolina, Dr. Greenfield earned a bachelor’s degree at North Carolina A&T State University and a doctorate from the University of Iowa. He began his academic career as in the department of biology at what is now Jackson State University in Mississippi.
Dr. Greenfield became president of Johnson C. Smith University in 1973 and served in that role until 1982. In 1984, the University’s board of trustees named a dormitory Wilbert Greenfield Hall in his honor.
In announcing Dr. Greenfield’s death, Clarence D. Armbrister, the current president of the university, said that “so much of the work he did throughout the 1970s secured JCSU’s position as an anchor on Charlotte’s west side. His ability to garner funding from government and private sources enhanced the intellectual rigor and the facilities on campus. The university continues to benefit from his accomplishments, and I am honored to stand on his shoulders.”
