The message below was sent to all faculty, staff and students on December 22, 2021 by College President Timothy Sams.
I write today to report on the death of L. Eudora Pettigrew, who served as President of SUNY Old Westbury from 1986-1998. Dr. Pettigrew passed away earlier this month after a long illness.
Born in 1928, Old Westbury’s fourth president earned a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia State College and master’s and doctorate degrees from Southern Illinois University. Her career in academia took her from a role at Swift Memorial Junior College in Rogersville, Tennessee, in 1950 through faculty and administrative positions at such institutions as Voorhees College, Southern Illinois University, University of Bridgeport, Michigan State University, and the University of Delaware. Dr. Pettigrew’s career featured a series of firsts:
- She was the first African-American professor to chair a department at Michigan State University when she was named to lead the Urban and Metropolitan Studies department in the late 1970s.
- She was the first African-American to hold a position in central administration at the University of Delaware when she was named associate provost for instruction there in 1981.
- She was the first African-American college president in the SUNY system when she was named president of SUNY Old Westbury in 1986.
Many members of our current faculty and staff were with the College during all or part of Dr. Pettigrew’s tenure at Old Westbury, and I have been told that portions of her tenure were both uplifting and turbulent. Even so, we cannot forget the role Dr. Pettigrew played in increasing the visibility of the campus across the civic and business communities of Long Island and as the first president to make an organized attempt to raise private funds in support of the College.
In addition to her academic and campus leadership experiences here and elsewhere, she worked actively with the International Association of University Presidents, an organization that promotes global awareness and competence as well as peace and international understanding through education. She was the recipient of many honors, including three honorary doctorates and the 1991 Distinguished Black Women in Education award, the National Council of Negro Women’s highest citation.
Please take a moment today to reflect on the life and career of Dr. Pettigrew and to offer thoughts of support to her family and friends as they cope with their grief.
Thank you.