http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/1137/Reagans_first_Black_cabinet_minister_Samuel_Pierce_Jr
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/00/11.9.00/obit.html
Obituary
Samuel Riley Pierce Jr. '44, J.D. '49, former Cornell star halfback
and university trustee emeritus and U.S. secretary of housing and
urban development under President Ronald Reagan, died Oct. 31 in
Washington, D.C. He was 78.
"He was a great man, and I treasure his memory," said Frank H.T.
Rhodes, president emeritus of Cornell, during whose term Pierce served
as a Cornell trustee.
Pierce entered Cornell with the Class of 1944, distinguishing himself
both in the classroom and on the football field. He was a star
halfback, equally outstanding in running, passing and kicking, and he
also ran varsity track. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior
year.
World War II interrupted his studies. He served in the U.S. Army from
1943 to 1946 in North Africa and Italy, becoming the first African
American on the staff of the Army's Criminal Investigation Unit for
the Mediterranean theater.
After the war he returned to Cornell and received his A.B. degree in
1947. He went on to Cornell Law School and received a J.D. degree in
1949, going on to earn L.L.M and L.L.D. degrees from New York
University.
There followed a distinguished career in law and politics, first as an
assistant district attorney for New York County, later as a member of
the State Banking Board and as a New York State General Sessions Court
judge.
Pierce gained his first experience in the nation's capitol when
Cornell professor Arthur Larson was appointed secretary of labor and
hired Pierce as his assistant. This led to posts as associate counsel
on antitrust for the House Judiciary Committee and general counsel of
the U.S. Treasury and ultimately to his appointment to the Reagan
cabinet.
Along the way he joined the prestigious New York law firm Battle,
Fowler, Stokes and Kheel, which eventually became Battle, Fowler,
Jaffrin, Pierce and Kheel, and he served on the boards of several
major corporations.
Pierce was a trustee of Cornell from 1972 to 1977 and again from 1978
to 1982. While on the board of trustees he served on the state
relations and development advisory committees, chaired the ad hoc
committee on athletics in 1974-75 and was a member of the search
committee for a new director of athletics during 1975-76.
In the last years of his cabinet term, Pierce came under fire due to
allegations that federal housing subsidies had been wrongly
distributed to Republican consultants. While he was not found guilty
of any wrongdoing, Pierce said he had failed to properly supervise the
aides who misused funds.
"In spite of the events in Washington, I think he was very upright and
conscientious man," Rhodes said.
Pierce is survived by his wife, Barbara Penn Wright, daughter of the
late Dr. Louis Wright, and a daughter, Victoria Wright.
November 9, 2000
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell |
