In Memoriam [2023]

Alexzandria was a 15-year-old student who enjoyed dance and hoped to go to culinary school upon graduation. She and a teacher, Jean Kuczka, were victims of a tragic school shooting at CVPA High School in St. Louis on October 24, 2022.

André Leon Talley was an author, stylist, creative director, and editor-at-large of Vogue magazine. Talley died from complications of a heart attack and COVID-19 in White Plains, New York, on January 18, 2022, at the age of 73.

Russell was considered the best NBA player ever, winning MVP five years in a row as a center for the Boston Celtics. He led the gold-medal winning U.S. national basketball team at the 1956 Summer Olympics. Russell attended the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C., and was among the African-American athletes who came together to support Muhammad Ali in his refusal to be drafted. Boston erected a statue in honor of Russell in 2013. Bill Russell died at age 88 on July 31, 2022.

Brig. Gen. Charles McGee was a Tuskegee Airman who flew 409 fighter combat missions over three wars: World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. McGee joined the all-Black 332nd Fighter Group, known as the “Red Tails” in 1944. He served in the military for 30 years before retiring in 1973. The brigadier general was also an educator, social worker, a businessman, and one of the first African-American ministers of the Unitarian Church. He was accorded an honorary commission promoting him to the one-star rank of brigadier at age 100. McGee died in his sleep on January 16, 2022 at the age of 102. He is interred in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Coolio was a rapper, record producer, actor, chef, and environmental activist. His song Gangsta Paradise sampled Stevie Wonder’s Parttime Paradise and became one of the most successful rap songs of all time. He used his platform as a performer to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, global warming, and asthma and allergies. Coolio suffered a fatal heart attack on September 28, 2022 at the age of 59.

Cora Faith Walker earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Public Health degree from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and a Juris Doctor from the Saint Louis University School of Law. She served in Jefferson City as the state representative from Ferguson, Missouri. In 2019, she became the policy director for St. Louis County. Cora Faith died suddenly on March 11, 2022 from a heart ailment.

On November 25, 2022, on what would have been her 38th birthday, the Cora Faith Walker Foundation was created for health equity within the St. Louis community.

Reverend Johnson was a dearly beloved minister, singer, and songwriter who was born in the St. Louis suburb of Kinloch, Missouri on Easter Sunday 1931. As a gifted orator, he devoted his life to service as a preacher. His legacy of goodwill, education, hard work, devotion, and wisdom was passed on to the Brown School’s own Cynthia Williams — his daughter. Pastor Johnson went home to glory on October 29, 2022 at the age of 91.

Irene Cara was an Afro-Latina actress, singer, songwriter, dancer, and voice actress who inspired an entire generation of children to enter the performing arts. Cara had been in the original TV miniseries Roots as well as on the PBS show The Electric Company. However, her breakout role came as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 movie Fame, and later in the TV show of the same name. In 1983, she cowrote and sang “Flashdance…What A Feeling” for the Flashdance movie soundtrack. The song garnered Cara a Grammy for Best Female Pop Performance and an Academy Award for best original song. On November 25, 2022, Irene Cara died from heart disease at the age of 63.

Mr. Mathews, was the co-founder of the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club.

For decades, Mathews helped shape the lives of young people through sports while also teaching them the game of life. He also collaborated with Major League Baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals to create the Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities Program in 1992.

Mathews was praised by Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Dan Quayle also recognized the Club. He transitioned at the age of 97 on November 9, 2022.

Nichelle Nichols was a trailblazing actress, singer, dancer, and NASA recruiter for astronauts of color. She is best known for her portrayal of Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek and subsequent films. Nichelle initially planned to leave the show, but Dr. Martin Luther King revealed that he was a fan of the show, and Black children needed her to inspire them. Years later, Nichols recruited African Americans for NASA’s budding space shuttle program. The first NASA shuttle prototype was called The Enterprise. Just as Dr. King predicted, the first Black woman in space Mae Jemison credits Nichols for inspiring her. Nichols was diagnosed with dementia in 2018, and succumbed to heart failure on July 30, 2022 at the age of 89. The following month, her ashes were sent into deep space to rest among the stars.

Christopher W. Newman was born in 1922 in Mississippi and raised in the old Mill Creek area of St. Louis. He joined the Army and was sent to Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama, for flight training. In 1944, during World War II, he was deployed to Italy with the 100th Fighter Squadron and flew their first mission. He survived two fiery crash landings in combat. In 1948, he married his wife Ernestine and raised four children. In 1950 he returned to the cockpit during the Korean War. After honorable discharge in 1952, Newman worked for the Defense Mapping Agency in St. Louis. In 2007, Newman’s portrait was included at Lambert International Airport’s Black Americans in Flight mural. On October 21, 2022, Capt. Newman took his final flight home to the ancestors at the age of 100.

Dorothy Pitman Hughes was a pioneering Black feminist, community activist, author, and orator. She organized the first shelter for battered women in New York City and co-founded the New York City Agency for Child Development which provided daycare for children, and a community center, job training, and advocacy training for parents. She co-founded Ms. Magazine with Gloria Steinem with whom she posed for an enduring iconic photo of fists raised in 1971. Steinem said that she learned public speaking from Dorothy who was known for calling out racism in what was a largely white, upper middle-class, feminist movement. In later years, a new generation came to know her as the aunt of award-winning “Precious” actress Gabourey Sidibe. Ms. Pitman Hughes transitioned on December 1, 2022 at the age of 84 from natural causes.

With music as a unifying source, Robert Ray brought together the sounds of the Black Church with the classical offerings of the Saint Louis Symphony to create the IN UNISON Chorus. He was the founder and director from its inception in 1996 until his retirement in 2010. Previously the Symphony was viewed as the exclusive domain of a white upper-crust audience. Thanks to Dr. Ray’s outreach, many Black St. Louisans got their first exposure to live classical music via church and outreach performances and Black History Month concerts. Dr. Ray was also an educator at UMSL, a mentor, and a composer of international acclaim. Robert Ray was welcomed by the ancestors on December 15, 2022 at the age of 76.

Lani Guinier was an American educator, attorney, author, law professor, legal scholar, and voting rights advocate. She was the daughter of civil rights activist and Harvard educator Ewart Guinier, and was the first Black woman to be granted tenure at Harvard Law School. During the Reagan Administration, she worked on the successful extension of the Voting Rights Act. In 1993, she was nominated to be United States Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, but her nomination was withdrawn due to racialized political pressure. She served as a subject matter expert for numerous journalists and news programs, and was an inspiration to many law school students, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and the head of the NAACP LDF Sherrilyn Ifill. Guinier passed away on January 7, 2022 at the age of 71 due to complications of Alzheimers Disease.

Tyre Nichols has been lovingly described as a hard worker; a gifted photographer who enjoyed watching sunsets; a talented skateboarder; a loving son, and devoted father to a 4-year old boy. Tyre died by police violence during an unprovoked traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 10, 2023. He was 29 years old. Five undercover police were swiftly fired, and charged with second degree-murder. Their brutalization of Nichols prompted an investigation by the FBI and Department of Justice; and launched renewed calls nationwide for police reform and accountability.

Arthur Duncan was a famed entertainer, dancer and choreographer who got his big break as a regular on Betty White‘s variety show in 1957. His appearance prompted complaints from racist viewers. Betty White’s response was “I’m sorry. Live with it”. She then gave Duncan even more airtime. After the cancellation of the show, Duncan went on to become the first African American to be part of Bob Hope’s famed USO troupe. The Army veteran said that the USO was “the best thing I could have done to help my country.” In later years, he is credited with influencing, teaching, and mentoring countless dancers and entertainers including Savion Glover and Gregory Hines. He continued to perform regularly into his 80s. His final onstage dance was 6 months before his passing. After suffering a stroke and pneumonia, Mr. Duncan left us on January 4, 2023, at the age of 97.