In Memoriam: Mary Lynn Jones Walker Huntley, 1946-2015

huntleyLynn Walker Huntley, the former president of the Southern Education Foundation, civil rights lawyer, and Justice Department official, died at her home in Atlanta on August 30. She was 69 years old and had suffered from cervical cancer.

Huntley was a native of Petersburg, Virginia. Her father was the former dean of the Howard University Divinity School. Huntley attended historically Black Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, but transferred and earned her bachelor’s degree at Barnard College in New York City. She graduated with honors from Columbia Law School, where she was the first Black woman to serve as editor of the Columbia Law Review.

After law school, Huntley served as a clerk for Judge Constance Baker Motley of the federal district court in New York. She then served as an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and later was a deputy assistant attorney general in the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department.

In 1995, Huntley joined the Southern Education Foundation, an organization that raises funds to improve educational opportunities for Black and low-income students in the South. Seven years later she became its first woman president. Huntley retired from that post in 2010.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

California State University Sacramento Launches Black Honors College

Officially launching for the fall 2024 semester, the Black Honors College will support students from all backgrounds who study Black history, life, and culture by providing them with a specialized curriculum and mentoring opportunities.

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

In Memoriam: Norman B. Anderson, 1955-2024

Dr. Anderson was the assistant vice president for research and academic affairs at Florida State University at the time of his death. He had an extensive career in clinical psychology, which led him to become the first African American chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association.

Georgia State University Launches Program to Support Black Women in Tech

While Black women account for roughly 29 percent of the Georgia State University undergradaute student body, they represent only 10 percent of the university's computer science majors and 18 percent of the computer information systems majors.

Featured Jobs