PASSAGES
Reginald Eaves ‘56 former police commissioner for the city of Atlanta and a former member of the Fulton County (Ga.) Commission, passed away on June 9, 2015, in Jacksonville, Fla., after an extended illness. Eaves served as an assistant to Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson ‘56 and then was appointed the city’s first Commissioner of Public Safety. He later was elected to serve as Fulton County Commissioner, where he served 11 years. Eaves was a founding member of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, life member of the NAACP and Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and past president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. He was also active in the Morehouse College Alumni Association and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Asa Spaulding ’56 passed away on Oct. 25, 2015, after a lengthy illness. He is the son of the late Asa T. Spaulding, the former president of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. After working for North Carolina Mutual, Spaulding eventually became president of BarberScotia College. He also was a member of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. Spaulding had a successful career in television and radio broadcasting and wrote a syndicated weekly column that was published by the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Spaulding also ran for several elected offices, including Secretary of State in North Carolina in 1976 and mayor of Durham, N.C., in 1971. The Honorable Taylor L. Baker Jr. ’57 passed away July 5, 2015, at the age of 79. A retired judge of the Superior Court of Marion County (Indiana), Baker served as Marion County Judge for 24 years in the Criminal Division, Civil Division, Environmental Court and as a presiding judge. Baker was Indianapolis’ first African American prosecutor. He was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and the Bachelor Benedict
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LIVER ROLAND SUEING ’72, an international musician known as “The Voice,” passed away on Feb. 16, 2016, at the age of 65. Sueing studied under Madame Adria Brunati, a renowned soprano soloist who performed with famed conductor Arturo Toscanini. A member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Sueing was also a member of the Morehouse College Glee Club. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was the featured tenor soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s “Christmas with Robert Shaw” concerts. His performances also included “The Impossible Dream” solo at the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter with the Atlanta University Community Chorus; the funeral services for Morehouse president Benjamin E. Mays; and the
Club. Baker received many national, state, city and community awards. William J. Willis Sr. ’57 passed away July 11, 2015, at the age of 91. In addition to earning a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College, Willis also attended the Atlanta College of Mortuary Science where he graduated in 1947. He was a World War II veteran, serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. He received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in 2013. In 1949, he and his wife Dorothy, established Willis Funeral Home, which is still family-owned and run today. James I. Roberts ‘70 passed away on Feb. 26, 2016. Roberts was a U.S. Army veteran who earned the National Defense Service Medal. He was honorably discharged in 1972. He spent more than 30-plus years in upper-level store management positions with several major retailers,
funeral services of former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson ’56. Sueing’s operatic performances included leading roles with the Phoenix Opera Company of Atlanta, Opera South of Jackson State College and Americolor Opera Alliance Company of Atlanta. n
including Sears, Roebuck & Company, Office Max and the Dayton Hudson, Lechemere, and K-Mart corporations. Additionally, Roberts opened the very first Value City in the Southeast, in Marietta, Georgia. Michael Vince Johnson ’72 passed away May 4, 2016. He was the only child of former Georgia Sen. Leroy R. Johnson ’48 and Dr. Cleopatra Johnson. Johnson worked in construction in Atlanta before graduating from Morehouse. He owned two office chair production companies and was later employed for 18 years as an information specialist with the Georgia Department of Labor, where he retired in 2011. Johnson was in several golf groups, and designed and taught a course titled “The Psychology of Golf.” A member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Johnson was appointed to the board of directors of the Players Club Resort in Hilton Head, S.C., in Oct. 2013.
WINTER 2017
51 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE