In Memoriam

George Canty Jr. (1928-2010)

George Canty Jr., longtime professor of chemistry at Fort Valley State University in Georgia, died last month from complications of a stroke at a hospital in Macon. He was 82 years old.

Professor Canty was raised by his grandmother in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from Tennessee State University. He joined the faculty at Fort Valley State University in 1955. He later earned a doctorate from Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Canty remained on the Fort Valley State faculty for more than 40 years.

Samuel Frederick Yette (1929-2011)

Samuel F. Yette, a longtime journalist, government official, and professor of journalism at Howard University, has died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease at an assisted living facility in Laurel, Maryland. He was 81 years old.

Yette, a grandson of a slave, was born in Harriman, Tennessee. In 1951 he received a bachelor’s degree from Tennessee State University and went on to earn a master’s degree in journalism from Indiana University. During his career in journalism he worked for Life, Ebony, and Newsweek magazines and for the Afro-American newspaper. He also worked as an administrator for the Peace Corps and the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity.

He joined the faculty at Howard University after being dismissed from Newsweek in 1971 after he had published a controversial book that warned of a possible genocide of the nation’s African-American population.