Former Tuskegee Airman, NCCU dean dies

Dr. Stewart B. Fulbright, 92, a Tuskegee Airman during World War II who later became the first dean of the School of Business at North Carolina Central University, died in Durham on Jan. 1.

Born in Springfield, Mo., in 1919, Dr. Fulbright attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., graduating in 1941 with a bachelor’s degree in French. He remained at Lincoln as an instructor in French.

In early 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, which in 1941 had created a program in Tuskegee, Ala., to train African-American aviators. He was one of nearly 1,000 men who trained there to be pilots, navigators and bombardiers during the war. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and pilot in December 1943 and served as a B-25 bomber pilot for the rest of the war. His all-black 477th Bombardment Group was preparing for deployment in the Pacific theater when the war ended in 1945.

After completing his military service, he enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he received an MBA degree in 1947. He joined the faculty of the Commerce Department at North Carolina College (now NCCU) that same year. He subsequently earned a Ph.D. in business administration from Ohio State University in 1953.

He served as acting dean of the Undergraduate School from 1966 to 1968, then returned to the Commerce Department as its chair in 1968. When the department became the School of Business in 1972, he became its first dean, serving in that position until 1976. After his retirement in 1982, Dr. Fulbright was honored by the university with the title of professor emeritus.

“Everyone thought of him as a friend,” said Dr. Howard Fitts, former chair of Public Health programs at NCCU and a longtime colleague. “He was well-liked and respected, and students felt at ease with him.”

NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms added, “During my tenure here, I have always felt I owed a great debt of gratitude and respect to the men and women who founded and built this university. I know I stand on the shoulders of giants, and Dr. Fulbright was one of those giants.”

Dr. Fulbright remained in contact with his wartime comrades through his active membership in the Wilson V. Eagleson Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, based in Goldsboro. He was among the Tuskegee Airmen present in Washington in 2007 when they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Dr. Fulbright is survived by his wife of 68 years, Della Marie Fulbright; a daughter, Gina Fulbright-Powell, of Silver Spring, Md., a son, Edward, of Durham; a granddaughter, Camille Fulbright; and a sister, Marilyn Fisher, of Las Vegas, Nev.

The funeral service will be on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 2620 Weaver St. in Durham. The family will receive friends an hour before the service.

The family requests that donations be sent to two institutions that Dr. Fulbright loved. One is the Dr. Stewart B. Fulbright Memorial Fund at NCCU. Contributions should be sent to the NCCU Foundation, P.O. Box 19363, Durham, N.C., with the Fulbright Memorial Fund in the memo line. The other is the Covenant Presbyterian Church Building Fund, 2620 Weaver St. Durham, NC 27707.