TUSKEGEE, Ala. — The longest-serving member of the Tuskegee University board of trustees, Dr. Andrew Brimmer, has retired, the university has announced. Spanning more than a third of the university’s 129-year history, Brimmer served as a board member for 45 years. He was the board chairman for 28 years.
“My association with Tuskegee is the longest, uninterrupted relationship that I have with any organization or any place at any time in my 84 years,” Brimmer said in his letter to the Tuskegee board.
Brimmer’s announcement came on Oct. 15 during the Tuskegee’s board’s annual fall meeting
An economist by training, Brimmer is president of the consulting firm in Washington, D.C., that bears his name. He joined the Tuskegee board in 1965 and became its chairman in 1982. The university’s business and information science school is named for him.
Brimmer was the first Black to serve as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1966, serving until 1974.
Retired Maj. Gen. Charles E. Williams of Sterling, Va., is replacing Brimmer as board chairman.
“It is an honor to follow Dr. Brimmer as chair,” Williams, who graduated from Tuskegee Institute (University) in 1960, said in a statement. “He among all the trustees has served the longest tenure and has been a phenomenal board chair in supporting the forward movement of the University.”
In other university developments, Tuskegee University president-elect, Dr. Gilbert L. Rochon, was granted full professor status with tenure at the fall board meeting. Rochon officially takes office on November 1.
