Category: 1930-1959 (Born)
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Carolyn Whigham
1949- Carolyn Whigham owns and runs Whigham Funeral Home and is known for skill in organizing funerals including for celebrity clients. She became director of Whigham Funeral Home in 1986 and has run over 6000 funerals including for Houston family and Congressman Donald Payne. She also hosted How to Conduct High Profile Funerals” seminars across New…
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Joan Whitlow
c. 1949- Joan Whitlow, now retired, has been called the first full-time Black woman reporter at the Star Ledger. She was also the first Black woman to be medical editor in the country. Joan wrote on health, education and the Newark city government. Joan worked for the Ledger from at least 1973-2011 and she had…
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Pamela E. Goldstein
1946- Pamela Goldstein worked in public relations for the City of Newark from at least 1976-2004, serving as Communications Director under Mayor James from 1986-2004. Pamela grew up in West Orange and attended West Orange High , graduating in 1964. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Journalism from Boston University School of Public Information. Pamela…
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Geneva Streeter
1943- Geneva Streeter (Wardell, Campbell) was the first Black “Queen of Rutgers-Newark” campus and her modeling career at Rutgers put her in national magazines. After college, she became a Newark teacher and principal for many years. Geneva Streeter grew up in Newark living at 156 Livingston St in 1950. She graduated West Side High, class…
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Vickie Donaldson
c. 1949 – Vickie Donaldson was a leader of the Black Organization of students during the takeover of Conklin Hall in 1969, and joined the Board of Education at age 23. Later, she became the first woman to be General Counsel of the Newark Board of Education and served as Director of Homeless Services for…
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Barbara Bell Coleman
1949- Barbara Bell Coleman is President of BBC Associates and a board member of the merged MCJ Amelior Foundation, Schumann Fund for New Jersey and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. She is co-founder and trustee emeritus of the Branch Brook Park Alliance, which she helped found in 1999. Barbara has served as CEO / Executive…
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Betty Harris Neals
1934- Betty Neals is a nationally-recognized poet, who has performed in Newark, New Jersey and nationally, who also had a 37-year teaching career in East Orange. In 1975, she was featured in New York City’s Black History Week and the New York Amsterdam News called her a “Newark born writer” who “is also a beautiful…
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Kathleen P. Galop
1946-2024 Kathleen Galop was an attorney who was instrumental in preserving Branch Brook Park and founding the Cherry Blossom Festival. She served on the Essex County Parks Advisory Council and later became County Executive Historic Preservation Officer and Acting Director of the Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. She was president of the New Jersey…