Edward Crosby, a long-time faculty member at Kent State University in Ohio, died on February 10. He was 88 years old.
A native of Cleveland, Dr. Crosby used the GI Bill to earn a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in medieval German language and history at Kent State University. He later would earn a Ph.D. in 1965 at the University of Kansas with a dissertation written entirely in German.
For the next several years, Dr. Crosby taught at Tuskegee University and Southern Illinois University. He joined the faculty at Kent State University in 1969. There he founded the Institute for African American Affairs, which later became the department of Pan-African studies. Dr. Crosby chaired the department from 1976 to his retirement in 1994.
After retiring from Kent State, Dr. Crosby co-founded the Ida B. Wells Community Academy for Black elementary school students in Akron, Ohio. The school closed after operating for seven years.
