In Memoriam
-Ozell K. Beatty was former president of Livingstone College (N.C.) from 1987-1989. Beatty was the first Black member of the Salisbury City Council and was also elected the town’s mayor pro tem. He was 83.
-Dr. Nathan M. Carter was director of the acclaimed Morgan State University Choir for 34 years. During his storied career, Carter received numerous honors and awards including the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Negro Musicians; a distinguished alumni honor from Hampton University; an Outstanding Achievement Award from Morgan State University; Conductor of the Year honor in 1994 by the Jentry McDonald Corp. He was 68.
-Dr. James Eaton Sr. was an historian at Florida A&M University who served as founder, curator and director of the Southeastern regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum. Eaton chaired the department of history, geography and African American studies at FAMU from 1969-1977. He was named FAMU’s first “distinguished professor” in 1978. He was 74.
-Dr. Alfred Goldson was chairman of the department of radiation oncology at Howard University, and a pioneer in developing cancer-fighting treatments. At the time of his death, he was helping establish the new department of radiation oncology for the Ministry Medical Group/St. Mary’s Hospital in Rhinelander, Wisc. He was 57.
-Dr. Samuel Nabrit was a marine biologist, and former president of Texas Southern University from 1955-1966. He was also the first Black to serve on the Atomic Energy Commission. He was 98.
-Willie Shepard was the Jackson State University tennis coach and a 1980 graduate of JSU and a three-time all-Southwestern Athletic Conference tennis player. Shepard became the men’s and women’s tennis coach at Jackson State in 1987. Under Shepard, the tennis teams won six conference titles — five men, one women — with the last coming during the 2001 season. Shepard was a five-time SWAC coach of the year. He was inducted into the Jackson State Hall of Fame in 2000.
-Dr. Barbara Sizemore was the first African American woman to head a major school system when she was chosen as superintendent of D.C. Public Schools in 1973. Sizemore was also a professor at the University of Pittsburgh and served as dean of the School of Education at DePaul University. She was 77.
-Dr. Edgar Allan Toppin, a professor emeritus at Virginia State University, was an expert on African American history, and had a career that spanned nearly five decades during which he wrote 10 books. He was 76.
— Compiled by Felecia Commodore and Hilary Hurd Anyaso
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
