In Memoriam Vernon Jordan Ted Folarin Roberts

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.

I wondered why I should pursue the job, especially since Mr. Jordan himself had turned down numerous prestigious positions throughout his life. He always preferred to act softly and to deflect credit for his accomplishments. In the end, he persuaded me – I do not see myself as the best person for the job, as a triple alumnus of Howard University, I had incurred a great debt to my Alma Mater and this was the best way to repay it.

I know that many people consider Mr. Jordan to be a mentor. But to me, he was more like a father. He treated me like a son and showed me love for reasons that I will never understand

but will live the rest of my life trying to deserve. In my personal life and from the office of Howard’s presidency, I will always strive to emulate Mr. Jordan in his behavior in the hopes of having even a fraction of his impact. He was selfless and caring.

Howard’s mission as a university is to give opportunity to those who could not have gotten it anywhere else. That institutional purpose reflects Mr. Jordan’s influence. No matter how high he climbed, he would always reach back to pull others forward. He saw the best in people and helped position them so they could do the most good with what they had to offer.

While the pillar of Vernon Jordan might no longer be standing with us, the institutions he helped stand up in his life are standing stronger and straighter today because of the weight he shouldered throughout his life.

—President Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery

Ted Folarin Roberts

During 40-plus years of teaching, Professor Ted Folarin Roberts inspired generations of Howard University students with his energetic willingness to share his professional knowledge and wisdom. He was highly regarded by his HU colleagues, as well as by his global radio listeners who knew him as “Uncle Ted.”

He was former chair of the Howard University School of Communications’ Department of Radio, Television and Film; Fulbright Scholar; author; and awardwinning international radio producer, announcer and manager (Voice of America, Sierra Leone and Liberian Broadcasting).

Throughout his life, Professor Roberts not only prepared himself to tackle and master new media horizons, but he consistently and with dedication inspired his students and radio listeners to do the same.

Upon his retirement in 2013, Professor Roberts wrote:

Throughout this time and to the present, I have enjoyed the most amazing support and love from all the Howard staff regardless of their areas of responsibility, section, division or service. … My colleagues have been fantastic. Whatever my own contribution, I have traded on their brilliance and dedication and bathed in their professionalism and love to help me do my work.

As I tell my students during our “life’s lessons” sessions, doors are opening now that were not open in the past, and the great challenges facing minorities is to be ready to enter those doors as they open. No greater tragedy can befall us as minority people than to allow new opportunities to emerge without the concomitant preparedness to meet them.