“These guys never gave up,” Maultsby said. “They believed very much in what they were doing, and I think they went as far as they could go to make sure that students were served, they were educated and became successful.”
Taylor died in Garfield Heights at the age of 78 on Nov. 17, according to his obituary. He was president from 1976 to 1984 and the youngest president of Wilberforce, according to a note from current Wilberforce president Elfred A. Pinkard. Taylor later served on the Shaker Heights school district board of education and on the board of trustees at the University of Akron, his obituary said.
“Taylor is an example of very high achievement in business and in life,” Maultsby said. “He walked his talk. I think he was very impressionable on both faculty and staff.”
Thomas was 82 when he died in February, according to his obituary. He was Central State’s president from 1985 to 1995 and was the first Central State alumnus to lead the school as president. He was a member of CSU’s class of 1962.
Thomas was a Dayton Public Schools teacher in the late 1960s, when Dayton schools were desegregating. Thomas walked some Black students to the district’s administration building, but upon returning with a group, he was arrested along with some students. He was later fired by the district for “exceeding his job responsibilities.”
Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Montgomery County ADAMHS board, said she met Thomas when her daughter was a student at the school.
“The thing that I got with Art was immediately, every student, he reached out to the parents, he connected with them,” Jones-Kelley said. “Great marketing strategy, but also gave me that feeling of my child being very safe and protected on the campus.”
But Thomas had some controversies as well.
Thomas resigned from Central State in March 1995 after months of discovery that showed the university was $5 million in debt and nearly bankrupt. Ohio had to advance the university $1.2 million to make payroll obligations.
“He has quite an interesting legacy as people look at him, because there are those who were very positive about his impact,” Jones-Kelley said. “And there are those that say, well, look at the problems the university experienced. I am in that core group that really feels like he’s done a lot to build out the university and to connect it to the real world.”
Maultsby said both men understood the value of education on Black students. For decades, many traditionally white universities and colleges were not open to Black students. Today, many Black students still face barriers. An academic study from 2019 showed Black women are disproportionately affected by student loans, and one in three students are first-generation students of color, according to a 2021 Journal of College Access article.
“I think both of these gentlemen had an understanding of the value and the importance of historically black colleges,” he said.
About the Author
