In Memoriam: Ulysses S. Washington, 1920-2018
Washington began his career at then-Delaware State College in 1949 as an assistant professor of agriculture education and farm mechanics. He retired from his position as chair of the department of agriculture at Delaware State University in 1991.
In Memoriam: Gladys Hope Franklin White, 1916-2018
After a long career in education, Dr. White retired from North Carolina A&T State University and founded Project CARE, an SAT/ACT Prep project in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
In Memoriam: Olivia Juliette Hooker, 1915-2018
During World War II, Dr. Hooker became the first Black woman to serve on active duty with the United States Coast Guard. She used her G.I. benefits to fund her graduate education at Columbia University and the University of Rochester. Professor Hooker served on the faculty at Fordham University in New York from 1963 to 1985.
In Memoriam: Jerry M. Adams, 1959-2018
Jerry M. Adams was a former classroom technology instructor in university media services at the University of Delaware. He served on the satff at the university for five years.
In Memoriam: Nadia Dominque Morgan, 1983-2018
Nadia Dominique Morgan, a rheumatologist and an instructor in medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, died in a hit-and-run automobile accident in Baltimore County on December 15. She was 35 years old.
In Memoriam: Rita Smith-Wade-El, 1948-2018
Dr. Smith-Wade-El served as a professor of psychology and the director of the African Americans studies minor program at Millersville University in Pnnsylvania. She was also co-director of the Ethnic Studies Learning Community Freshman Experience at the university.
In Memoriam: Henry J. Durand Jr., 1948-2018
Dr. Durand began his career at the University at Buffalo in 1990. He held many positions throughout his tenure, ultimately becoming senior associate vice provost of academic affairs and executive director of Cora P. Maloney College.
In Memoriam: Leon J. “Stan” Lomax, 1923-2018
Throughout his 14 years as head coach, he led Fort Valley State University to four Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships. In addition to his football tenure, Lomax served as assistant to the president of the university.
In Memoriam: Tasia Smith, 1986-2018
Tasia Smith was the Evergreen Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology and Human Services at the University of Oregon. Only 32 years old at the time of her death, Dr. Smith had joined the faculty at the University of Oregon in 2016.
In Memoriam: Richard Payne, 1951-2019
Richard Payne was the Esther Colliflower Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Divinity at Duke Divinity School. Earlier in his career, he taught at the University of Texas and held the Anne Burnett Tandy Chair in Neurology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
In Memoriam: Lamin Sanneh, 1942-2019
Lamin Sanneh, the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School, passed away on January 6 from a stroke.
In Memoriam: Irene Leota Moore Wright, 1927-2019
Throughout her career, Dr. Wright held faculty positions as Atlanta University, Clark College, Spelman College, Tuskegee Institute, Albany State College, and Saint Louis University.
In Memoriam: Rodney Kelvin Sisco, 1964-2018
Sisco was a 1984 graduate of Wheaton College, earning a bachelor's degree in sociology and Christian education. He joined the staff at the college after graduation and remained a member of the Wheaton community for the rest of his life.
In Memoriam: T. Vaughn Walker, 1950-2019
Dr. Walker was senior professor of Black church studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He was the first tenured African American faculty member in the 150-year history of the seminary. He was also the first African American full professor.
In Memoriam: Yvonne Young Clark, 1929-2019
In 1956, Professor Clark joined the faculty at what was then Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State University in Nashville. Clark retired as a professor emerita in 2011 at what is now Tennessee State University after serving on the faculty for 55 years.
In Memoriam: Feleta Wilson, 1945-2019
Dr. Wilson, an associate professor of nursing at Wayne State University in Detroit, focused her academic research on patient education and patient health literacy to reduce health disparities and inequities in vulnerable populations.
In Memoriam: Faye Elizabeth Coleman, 1940-2019
Faye Elizabeth Coleman joined the faculty at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1978 as an assistant professor. In 1980, she became director for the graduate program in medical laboratory sciences for students in several diagnostic professions. She retired in 2016.
In Memoriam: Manderline W. Scales, 1927-2019
After 20 years in the public schools of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Dr. Scales joined the staff at historically Black Winston-Salem State University. She served as dean of women, director of student affairs and assistant vice chancellor of student affairs and development.
In Memoriam: Josephus Olufemi Richards, 1942-2019
In 1971, Dr. Richards began his career at the University of Massachusetts as an associate professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies. He retired in 2002.
In Memoriam: Oswald Perry Bronson, Sr., 1927-2019
Dr. Bronson served as the fourth president of what is now Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, from 1975 until his retirement as president emeritus in 2004. Major fields of study at Bethune-Cookman increased from 12 to 37 during Dr. Bronson's 29-year tenure as president.
In Memoriam: Jean Fairfax, 1920-2019
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Fairfax served as dean of women at what is now Kentucky State University in Frankfort and at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
In Memoriam: Patricia Officer Evans, 1941-2019
Patricia Officer Evans was a longtime educator who served as First Lady at Southwestern Christian College for more than a half century.
In Memoriam: Kavin Grant, 1981-2019
Kavin Grant, an associate professor of dance at Alabama State University, recently was killed in a car accident. Earlier in his career, he taught at West Chester University, Temple University, Penn State, the University of the Arts, the University of Akron, Rowan University, Muhlenberg College, and Jackson State University.
In Memoriam: Lorraine Elizabeth Green Branham, 1952-2019
A long-time journalist Lorraine Branham became dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York in 2008.
In Memoriam: Donald Stewart, 1938-2019
Dr. Stewart served as the sixth president of historically Black Spelman College in Atlanta from 1977 to 1986. He left Spelman College to become president of The College Board.
In Memoriam: Leonard “Chief” Tramiel, 1944-2019
In 1973, Tramiel became director of university bands at Mississippi Valley State University. He retired from the university in 2013.
In Memoriam: Albert L. Walker, 1945-2019
Dr. Walker was appointed president of Harris-Stowe State University in August 2011 and served in that role until his retirement in 2013. Earlier in his career, he served as president of Bluefield College in West Virginia.
In Memoriam: Leonard Lewis Brown, 1946-2019
Leonard Lewis Brown was an acclaimed saxophonist and associate professor emeritus of music and of African-American studies at Northeastern University in Boston. He served as co-director of the Afro-Caribbean Music Research Project and chair of the African American studies department at the university.
In Memoriam: Martin Kilson, 1931-2019
Dr. Kilson first joined the faculty at Harvard in 1962 as a lecturer in government. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1967 and professor of government in 1969, making him the first Black full professor at Harvard.
In Memoriam: Clifton Hennessee Kearney Sr., 1925-2019
Clifton Hennesse Kearney Sr. was the director and coordinator of transfer students in the School of Engineering at Morgan State University. He served on the staff at the university for 31 years. He also chaired the Howard University Alumni Association.
In Memoriam: Onyekwere E. Akwari, 1942-2019
Dr. Akwari was recruited to Duke after the university desegregated its hospital. He joined the faculty as an associate professor, making him the second African American tenure-track faculty member in the School of Medicine.
In Memoriam: Shirley Bradley LeFlore, 1940-2019
In addition to serving as poet laureate for the city of St. Louis, LeFlore was an educator. She was the first African American assistant dean of students at what is now Webster University in Missouri.
In Memoriam: William B. DeLauder, 1937-2019
In 1987, Dr. DeLauder was named president of what was then Delaware State College. In 1993, the state General Assembly renamed the college as Delaware State University. Dr. DeLauder served as president until 2003.
In Memoriam: Robert Wayne Bowles, 1943-2019
Robert W. Bowles was the former chair of the department of health and physical education and the former director of alumni affairs at Alcorn State University in Mississippi.
In Memoriam: LaSalle Doheny Leffall Jr., 1930-2019
LaSalle Leffall was a giant in African American education and was a leading cancer researcher. He chaired the department of surgery at the Howard University College of Medicine for a quarter century. Dr. Leffall was the first African American president of the American Cancer Society and the American College of Surgeons.
In Memoriam: Margaret Asalele Mbilzi-Sawerengera
Dr. Mbilzi-Sawerengera, the wife of the Malawi ambassador to the United States, served as an associate professor of educational policy and research at D'Youville College in Buffalo, New York, an assistant professor of higher education at Northern Illinois University, and an assistant professor of foundations of education at the University of West Alabama.
