Eric Christopher Webb, DDiv., CPLC
Director of Communications
/Editor of The Sphinx
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
ewebb@apa1906.net
Cell: 443-635-5911
Thursday, September 5, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. General President Dr. Willis L. Lonzer, III, on the Death of Sybil Morial, the widow of the late 23rd General President and Former Mayor of New Orleans, Brother Ernest “Dutch” Morial
It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of former First Lady of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and City of New Orleans, Mrs. Sybil Morial. She was 91.
Mrs. Morial was the widow of the late Brother Ernest “Dutch” Morial, 23rd General President of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the first Black Mayor of New Orleans. She is also the mother of Urban League, Inc. President and CEO Brother Marc Morial and Brother Jacques Morial, a political consultant.
A civil rights activist, in her own right, Mrs. Morial was also an educator, former associate dean at Xavier University for 28 years, and was the author of her memoir, “Witness to Change: From Jim Crow to Empowerment.”
The Fraternity offers its deepest condolences to both Brother Marc and Jacques Morial as well as to the entire Morial family. We hope they find solace in that we mourn with them, and they are not alone.
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About Alpha Phi Alpha
The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American men, was founded on December 4, 1906, at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and is headquartered in Baltimore, MD. The Fraternity has long stood at the forefront of the African American community’s fight for civil rights through Alpha men such as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; late former Congressman Adam Clayton Powell; late former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; legendary activist, actor and performer, Paul Robeson, former Ambassador Andrew Young; late former Senator Edward Brooke; scholar, Cornel West; Senator Raphael Warnock; Congressman Steven Horsford, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus; General CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; six other members of the U.S. Congress, numerous state, and local lawmakers across the United States, as well as President of Liberia, His Excellency Joseph Boakai, Sr. The fraternity, through its more than 720 college and alumni chapters and general-organization members, serves communities in the United States, and other parts of North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.