In Memoriam

’50’s

James Elmer Pittman (BS ’56)  November 10, 2022, Washington, DC. He served as executive director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Clyde Thomas Parker (MFA  ’57; MS ’63), November 5, 2022, Washington, DC.

’60’s

Joseph Daniel Alexander (BA ’60), January 4, 2021, Goodyear, Arizona. 

Joseph Louis Newell (BBA ’62),  May 3, 2022, Beltsville, Maryland.

Ozie Ree Mitchell Quarterman (EA BARCH ’64),  December 12, 2022, Washington, DC

Patricia “Pat” Moore Harbour, EdD (BFA ’65),October 3, 2022 in Washington, DC.

Edward Bernard Thoms (BBA ’67),October 1, 2022 in Tampa, Florida. 

James Milton Upshaw, Jr. (BS ’67),  June 18, 2022 Auburn, Alabama.

Reginald McCoy Felton (BA ’68),  June 11, 2022, Washington, DC. 

Clyde Alfonso Mason, Jr. (BS ’68), August 9, 2022, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

’70’s

Sandra C. Bayne (BS ’74, MA ’77), October 22, 2022.

Linda M. Gray (BS ’74) served as a Delaware state magistrate judge for seven years until 2007 and president of the Brandywine Hills Community Association for 20 years before her election as Wilmington City Councilwoman in 2020. She devoted her time to many community organizations, including the First District Neighborhood Planning Council, Brandywine Zoo, Rockwood Foundation, Wilmington Arts Commission, and the First Night Wilmington Planning Committee.

Roy Lester Schneider (B.S. ’61, M.D. ’65, H ’96) was a pillar in healthcare in both the U.S. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. At Freedman’s Hospital, now Howard University Hospital, he held various administrative positions, including vice chairman in the department of oncology; associate director at Howard’s Cancer Research Center; and consultant in the Cancer Surgery Department of Radio Therapy at Howard University, all in 1973. He created the Roy L. Schneider Endowed Chair in oncology in the Howard University College of Medicine to attract and recognize distinguished faculty and scholars at that Cancer Center.

Dr. Schneider served as a captain, medical advisor and surgeon in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He received a Bronze Star from the U.S. government, the Vietnamese Honor Medal First Class, and the Technical Service Honor Medal from the country.

Dr. Schneider was revered in the U.S. Virgin Islands for his work in improving healthcare. As health commissioner, he initiated the territory’s first kidney transplant. He also performed the territory’s first radical forequarter amputation for cancer of the humerus. He played an active role in St. Thomas and St. Croix in completing new health facilities, which were previously initiated through the efforts of former governors and health executives. He also advocated the establishment of a board of trustees for each hospital. Schneider is the namesake for the Roy Lester Schneider Hospital, a 169-bed acute care facility in St. Thomas founded in 1982. He also served as the fifth elected Governor of the United States Virgin Islands from 1995 to 1999.