Reynaldo P. Glover, chairman of Fisk board, dead at 64

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Reynaldo P. Glover, chairman of the Fisk University board of trustees, has died of pancreatic cancer, the school announced last Thursday. He was 64.

Glover, a 1965 Fisk graduate, died Nov. 27. He had served as chairman of the historically black university’s board of trustees since February 2004.

“He was a man of enormous vision, courage and character, values central to everything he touched and a core part of our university,” said Fisk President Hazel O’Leary. “He led Fisk’s board at a critical time and led the team that reinforced its model of integrity, accountability and transparency.”

Glover was also at the helm for the cash-strapped school’s controversial attempt to sell artworks donated to the school by Georgia O’Keeffe to raise money. That effort has become bogged down in the courts, and the school’s attorneys have said Fisk could run out of cash by the end of the year.

Glover earned his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1968 and began his legal career as national executive director of the Law Student Civil Rights Research Council in New York.

He later went into private practice in Chicago. He served as chairman of the board of trustees of the City Colleges of Chicago from 1988 to 1991.

Fisk spokesman Ken West said Vice Chairman Robert W. Norton will preside over the school’s next board of trustees’ meeting in February, at which time a new chairman will be elected.

A memorial service for Glover is scheduled for Dec. 9 at the Kennedy-King College Auditorium in Chicago.

Contributions in Glover’s honor can be made to Fisk’s Reynaldo Glover Scholarship Fund.

(Associated Press)