THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010257
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 52 lines
Walter N. Ridley, a Newport News native who was the first black graduate of the University of Virginia and later became president of Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, has died at 86.
``I would describe him as a man of quiet determination,'' Ervin L. Jordan Jr., a U.Va. historian researching the history of blacks at the university, said Monday. ``He was very modest about his accomplishments, and he had a whole slew of those.''
Ridley died Thursday in West Chester, Pa. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from Howard University in the 1930s, Jordan said. He was chairman of the psychology department at Virginia State College, outside Petersburg, when he was admitted to U.Va.'s doctoral program in the fall of 1950 at the age of 41.
That year, a federal court required the university to admit a black to its law school, ending more than a century of segregation at U.Va. The law student, Gregory Swanson, left school before graduating.
Ridley received his doctorate with high honors in 1953, becoming the first black to receive a degree from U.Va.
After 21 years at Virginia State, Ridley became an academic dean at St. Paul's College in Lawrenceville. He was named president at Elizabeth City in 1958. Under his tenure, the number of academic departments increased from one to 13.
He led Elizabeth City until 1968, when he returned to teaching at West Chester State University until his retirement.
``Dr. Ridley's attitude was simply that he didn't see why he couldn't attend the University of Virginia,'' said Jordan, an associate professor who is a Norfolk native and Norfolk State University alumnus. ``He pointed out on various occasions that he was a native Virginian and that his father paid taxes to help support U.Va. It was a quiet statement. He didn't scream about it.''
Ridley was a charter member of the U.S. Commission on UNESCO and a former member of several boards, including those of Antioch College and the Save the Children Foundation. But Jordan said Ridley was most proud of having a U.Va. scholarship program named after him. The Ridley Scholarships, which are privately funded, go to black students with strong academic records.
``Walter Ridley always described the university as `my university,' '' Jordan said. Ridley returned to the university for a reunion in 1987. Jordan recalled that Ridley described the event as `` `the first time in 34 years that my university has officially invited me back as an alumnus.'
``But he wasn't bitter about it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Walter N. Ridley followed his U.Va. doctoral education
degree with a distinguished academic career.
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY by CNB