Clifton Hennesse Kearney Sr., the former director and coordinator of transfer students in the School of Engineering at Morgan State University, passed away on April 28, 2019. He was 94 years old.
Before his career in higher education, Kearney had a 30-year career with IBM where he worked on the System/360 computer. He was the second African-American to be hired as an electrical engineer at IBM. He later went on to serve as the director and coordinator of transfer students at Morgan State’s School of Engineering. He retired from the school after 31 years.
In the mid-1960s, Kearney, along with a fellow classmate, founded a Hudson Valley chapter for the Howard University Alumni Association. He was elected as the chapter’s first president. He went on to become chairman of the region and national president from 1980-1982.
Kearney was a graduate of Howard University where he majored in electrical engineering.
