ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 10, 1997 TAG: 9702100073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DURHAM, N.C.
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
Former Mayor E.J. ``Mutt'' Evans, a longtime civic and religious leader who was appointed by President Kennedy to an advisory board on intergovernmental relations, died Saturday. He was 89.
Evans died at The Forest at Duke University of complications from a Jan. 29 stroke.
Kennedy appointed Evans to represent smaller towns and cities on the advisory board of the National Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, said his son, Eli N. Evans.
Evans was Durham's mayor from 1951 to 1963. He served as president of the North Carolina League of Municipalities and was on the board of the National Conference of Mayors.
Evans, known by his high school nickname of ``Mutt,'' was known across the South for his leadership in setting up the region's first Human Relations Committee.
Evans, the son of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania, grew up in Fayetteville, N.C.
Terry Sanford, former governor and U.S. senator, wrote of Evans in 1993: ``For more than four decades, he and his wife, Sara, a wise and remarkable woman who spoke throughout the South in behalf of Israel, were known as leading Jewish figures in the state, the region and the nation.''
The couple built the United Dollar Store chain, later named Evans United Department Stores, in North Carolina and Virginia.
During World War II, the Evanses signed 55 affidavits for refugees from Hitler's Europe, personally guaranteeing a job from an American citizen in order for them to receive a visa.
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB