IN MEMORIAM
Vernon E. Jordan When Vernon E. Jordan Jr. died on Monday, March 1, it was as if a pillar of Howard University fell. The death of this esteemed alumnus of our School of Law and former member of our Board of Trustees struck with a force that reverberated around our community. Mr. Jordan was one of the tallest, the most prominent and the strongest pillars holding up our institution. But he made it part of his life’s mission to add more pillars to our foundations so that, when his own pillar was no longer, Howard would still be left standing – even stronger than before. Of course, Howard wasn’t the only institution rattled by his death. From the law firms where he worked to the National Urban League and the numerous organizations he influenced, there are many who benefited from his mentorship that are mourning his passing. And as much of an imprint as he left upon Howard, his impact on our country
as a whole was just as grand. He was a man of America, an individual who saw the pits of its degradation as well as the beauty of its potential. He was raised in an Atlanta housing project in the segregated South and survived an assassination attempt by an individual motivated by racial hatred. From such humble beginnings, he would rise to the trappings of greatness. He would golf with presidents and sit in the halls of the White House. But he never forgot where he came from or for what purpose he had risen to such great heights. He was a tireless and strategic advocate of civil rights and social justice. In Washington, D.C., he was a true mover and shaker, a chess player who cared just as much for the pieces he moved as the ultimate goals he moved them for. He never caused people to act by force or guile, but with love and truth. He earned the ears of so many world leaders by first offering his own. For Mr. Jordan, no task was too big for him to take on or too small for him to pick up the phone and make a call. He would discuss matters of national importance with heads of state, and he would often call me to look at the application of a student who just applied to Howard; more often than not, the applicant was trying to become the first member of their family to attend college. I am proud and humbled to see myself as one of those chess pieces in Mr. Jordan’s life’s work. The week of his death, I often found myself thinking of him in the office of the president of Howard University, an office I occupy in part because of him. It was not a position I ever envisioned for myself, but one that he came to feel was befitting. 18
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