In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Gwendolyn A. Newkirk, 1926-2026

Dr. Newkirk was the first faculty member of color in the College of Home Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where served as chair of the department of home economics education for 20 years. Dr. Newkirk was also the first African American elected president of the American Home Economics Association.

In Memoriam: Jeffrey Bernard Leak, 1968-2026

Dr. Leak had been a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for nearly three decades. His scholarship centered on African American literature, autobiographies, and gender and cultural studies.

In Memoriam: Prezell Russell Robinson, 1920-2026

Dr. Robinson served as the eighth president of Saint Augustine's College (now University) from 1967 to 1995. During his career, he also served as president of the United Negro College Fund.

In Memoriam: Florence Okoro, 1961-2026

At the time of her passing, Dr. Okoro was in her eleventh year of teaching at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte School of Nursing. Her scholarship centered on chronic illness management and caregiver support.

In Memoriam: Tony Brown, 1933-2026

In addition to his pioneering career in broadcast journalism, Brown served as dean of both the School of Communications at Howard University and the Scripps Howard School of Journalism at Hampton University in Virginia.

In Memoriam: Leland Ware, 1948-2026

Professor Ware taught law, public policy, and Africana studies at the University of Delaware for more than two decades. As a scholar, he focused on civil rights and civil liberties law, employment law, and constitutional law.

In Memoriam: Renee Monica McCoy, 1969-2026

Professor McCoy taught courses in accounting and decision sciences at historically Black Clark Atlanta University for two decades. She also served as faculty lead for the university's minor program in business analytics.

In Memoriam: William H. Whitaker Jr., 1967-2026

Dr. Whitaker's career in higher education spanned more than three decades. A former administrator at several HBCUs, he was serving as dean of the Dr. Emily England Clyburn Honors College at South Carolina State University at the time of his passing.

In Memoriam: Kimberly Baylor Bivins

Bivins taught construction science at Tuskegee University in Alabama for 10 years. During her tenure, she had stints as chair of the Faculty Senate and as interim chair of the construction science department.

In Memoriam: David Henderson, 1942-2026

Henderson was a co-founder of New York City's Black Arts Movement in the 1960s. An acclaimed poet and writer, Henderson taught English, African American, and poetry workshops at colleges and universities in New York and California.

In Memoriam: Harold K. Brown, 1934-2026

In 1971, Brown took a position in San Diego State University's department of academic affairs, making him the university's first Black administrator. One year later, he established what is now known as the department of Africana studies.

In Memoriam: Mary Evans Sias, 1950-2026

A longtime leader in higher education, Dr. Sias served as president of Kentucky State University from 2004 to 2014. In 2023, she was named interim president of Texas Southern University.

In Memoriam: Castell Vaughn Bryant, 1938-2026

Dr. Bryant was a longtime administrator at several higher education institutions throughout the state of Florida. She was the first woman to serve as interim president of Florida Memorial University and Florida A&M University.

In Memoriam: Gregory V. Murphy, 1956–2026

Dr. Murphy was the first Black man to earn a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee. He taught for more than two decades at Tuskegee University.

In Memoriam: Erroll B. Davis Jr., 1944-2026

Following a successful corporate career, Davis served as chancellor of the University System of Georgia, where he oversaw the state's 35 colleges and universities.

In Memoriam: Odessa Johnson, 1939-2026

Dr. Johnson was a longtime leader in education in the Modesto, California, community. The first African American to teach at Modesto High School, Dr. Johnson founded the Modesto Institute for Continued Learning and served as a regent with the University of California.

In Memoriam: Carl Anthony, 1939-2026

As an undergraduate, Anthony attended Columbia University in New York City, where he was the only African American student enrolled in the Ivy League institution's architecture school. He went on to teach at the University of California, Berkeley.

In Memoriam: Ernst Cebert, 1954-2026

Dr. Cebert served three decades on the faculty at historically Black Alabama A&M University, where he led research programs in bioenergy and industrial crops.

In Memoriam: James T. Johnson, Jr., 1949-2026

Dr. Johnson taught music theory at several institutions through the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area. He was known for founding the Afro American Music Institute, a community program that provides music instruction to students of all ages.

In Memoriam: Faye Gary, 1941-2026

Dr. Gary's career as a nurse, scholar, and educator spanned over five decades, including 23 years at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Her work centered on child and adolescent health, health disparities, and domestic violence.
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