Thomas W. Cole, Clark Atlanta University’s first president, dies at 81

‘’This is an historic moment for Black higher education,’’ Cole said at a news conference following the vote by the trustees of each school, The New York Times reported. “It is the blending of the traditions of two great institutions.”

The consolidation came at a critical time. Atlanta University was struggling financially. Cole started a fundraising campaign that garnered $11.5 million — exceeding its goal, university officials said.

He led Clark Atlanta until 2002.

“He was a students’ president. He knew students by name, and every decision he made was led with the best interest of the students and the university in mind,” the university’s president, George T. French Jr., said in a statement Sunday evening.

Cole began his academic career in 1966 teaching chemistry at Atlanta University. He chaired the chemistry department from 1970 through 1979. He was named the university’s provost and vice president for academic affairs from 1979 through 1982.

Cole left Atlanta in 1982 to become president of West Virginia State College. He was subsequently appointed chancellor of the West Virginia Board of Regents.

Cole returned to Atlanta in 1987 as the president of both Atlanta University and Clark College to simultaneously manage both schools and create a consolidation plan.

Clark Atlanta, which has about 4,000 students, is the largest private historically Black school in Georgia.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. April 25 at Cascade United Methodist Church, 3144 Cascade Road in southwest Atlanta. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers gifts be made to the Thomas W. Cole Jr. Scholarship Fund at Clark Atlanta University.