Emory University Black Studies Scholar Rudolph Byrd Dies After Long Battle with Cancer

Rudolph Byrd, a noted black and gay African American studies Emory University scholar, dies at 58 after long battle with cancer.

Rudolph Byrd

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Rudolph Byrd, who was a prominent scholar of black studies at Emory University in Atlanta. He died Friday after a long battle with multiple myeloma. He was 58.

"For many of us Rudolph was not only a symbol of dignity, propriety, determination, elegance and stamina, he embodied what it meant to live with purposefulness and grace, even to the very end," Earl Lewis, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, wrote Friday in announcing Byrd's death to the Emory community.

Byrd joined Emory's faculty in 1991 and he gained accolades with such honors as the Thomas Jefferson Award and the Andrew W. Mellon fellowship from Harvard University. He was a founder of the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference, and the founding co-chair of the Alice Walker Literary Society, named for "The Color Purple" author. Source: CNN

I must also offer thoughts and prayers to a personal friend of mine and her family. Her 10 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with cancer. We pray for her speedy recovery and that the family leans on God and friends for strength to make it through this tough time.