The Passing of Dr. Clement Alexander Price

Dr. Clement Alexander Price, a renowned Rutgers University Newark professor and City of Newark Historian, died from a stroke on Sunday Nov. 2, according to the Rutgers Newark Office of Communications.

Price was described as a, “mentor, patron of the arts and humanities, public servant and public intellectual.” He was the founding director of the Rutgers Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience and a , “published widely in African American history, American cultural policy and American urban history.”

Price also was co-founder of the annual Marion Thompson Wright Lecture Series, “the oldest, largest and most prestigious Black History Month event in the state,” drawing thousands of people over the decades to listen, learn, and engage with each other over shared civic challenges.

Price chaired President Obama’s 2008 transition team for the National Endowment for the Humanities and was vice chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

This past January, Price was also named the official Newark Historian and the chairman to the Newark 350th anniversary celebratory committee.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka issued a statement on Price’s passing, noting that he was a dear personal friend and a friend to all of Newark.

“I believe I can speak for the entire City of Newark when we say that we are in sadness, shock, and mourning upon hearing of the death of Rutgers University-Newark Professor Clement Alexander Price today… His great intelligence, his vast learning, his eloquence, and most of all, his unbelievable personal warmth, made him one of our City’s most titanic, respected, and beloved figures.”

Baraka also said in the statement that Price, “empowered and energized everyone he met and touched with his warmth and wisdom, and we were proud to return that warmth and wisdom by appointing him as Newark’s first African-American City Historian.”

He concluded his statement referencing Newark’s approaching anniversary, “Our celebrations of Newark’s 350th Anniversary in 2016 will be a tribute to his love of Newark and his vision of its greatness as our nation’s third-oldest city. He defined the transformation we are making to turn Newark into a City we can all believe in. Our prayers go out to his wife, Mary Sue Sweeney Price, and his entire family.”

Senator M. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) expressed her condolences to Prices’ loved ones in a statement, saying that her “thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time.”

Ruiz also said, “Dr. Clement Price was a man whose name was synonymous with Newark history and who was beloved by everyone. He was a historian, an author, a teacher, a promoter of all of our city’s greatness, and a friend to so many. He knew intimately the history of Newark and the importance of sharing it with the world. We are all privileged to have known him and to have learned from him. His contributions will forever be etched in this city’s history.”

Image courtesy of Rutgers Newark Office of Communications.