In Memoriam

Frank W. Hale Jr. (1927-2011)

Frank W. Hale Jr., civil rights activist and vice president emeritus at Ohio State University, died last week from cancer. He was 84 years old.

Hale was a native of Kansas City, Missouri, but grew up in Topeka, Kansas. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degree at the University of Nebraska and a Ph.D. in communication and political science at Ohio State University. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of London.

Hale’s career in higher education spanned 54 years. He taught English at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, from 1959 to 1966. He was then appointed president of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. He served in that capacity until 1971.

In 1971 he began a long tenure at Ohio State University as associate dean of the Graduate School. From 1978 to 1988, he served as vice provost for minority affairs. Dr. Hale was instrumental in establishing a Black Cultural Center on campus. When the new center was opened in 1989, the building was named in Hale’s honor.

Hale came out of retirement in 1999 and served for six years as “distinguished university representative and consultant.”

In 2010, Dr. Hale was inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony can be seen in the accompanying video.

Copyright © 2011. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.