Greenburgh Resident Dorothy J. Orr, 95, Pioneering Business and Civic Leader

The following obituary is from the J. Foster Phillips Funeral Home:

Dorothy James Orr, a dedicated civic leader and distinguished corporate executive, passed away on January 17, 2015. Born January 12, 1920, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, to Isaac and Eunice Hicks James, she parlayed her upbringing, education, caring and compassion into a formidable legacy of accomplishment over the course of her 95 years. A graduate of Allegheny College and Atlanta University, where she earned a master of science degree in social work, Dorothy Orr was led by inclination and the need of her community to a career as a psychiatric social worker. A deeply intuitive and astute understanding of the relationship between the health of the individual and that of society compelled her to devote her life to building interracial coalitions and partnerships among the elderly, youth, educators, corporate leaders, legislators and community service executives as a means of healing communities and improving the quality of life for all. Her dedication in this garnered her a far-reaching and richly deserved reputation.

She was a pioneer in the movement to secure human rights for all, serving as Commissioner of Human Rights for New York State, where she developed the first master plan for equal opportunity for the New York State Department of Human Rights. Promoting strategies that encouraged voluntary affirmative action within the banking, insurance and media industries, she secured equal opportunity access to entry-level, middle management and senior executive positions for many who otherwise would have been shut out of such opportunities. As executive director of the two largest community corporations in the nation – Youth in Action and HARYOU ACT – she organized and mobilized corporate executives, legislators, the poor and a staff of 1,000 to work together to provide opportunities for training, education and the access to capital necessary to realizing the American Dream.

An impassioned educator, Dorothy Orr served as commissioner of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, as associate professor at Fordham University and as a member of the President’s Advisory Board on Higher Education. She was a consultant to the National Association of Equal Opportunity in Education and to Manhattanville College and Spelman College, where she served on the Spelman College Corporate Women’s Roundtable.

As the first female African American corporate vice president in the insurance industry, Mrs. Orr transformed the corporate culture of Equitable Life Assurance Society, where she recommended policies and implemented strategies that utilized corporate resources to address social issues impacting woman and minorities. It was a groundbreaking, glass-ceiling-shattering approach that became the industry model for integrating financial goals with social objectives.

She served as consultant to the Commission on Aging, cochaired the Diversity Caucus on Healthcare and Disparity and was a leading advocate to the Westchester County Pre-White House Conference of the County Department of Aging Services.

Mrs. Orr was further instrumental in establishing the African American Leadership Forum for Education Policy/Pace University Institute for the Advancement of Equal Opportunity in Education as well as a think tank on education policy and racial issues. In recognition of her pioneering work, she was honored by Pace with the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

Dorothy James Orr received many awards and honors over the course of her long and productive life, among them the coveted Woman of the Year in Westchester County, the National Association of Equal Opportunity in Education Award, the Essence Legacy Award, Women’s Hall of Fame Award and the Business Policy Review Council’s Corporate Pioneer Award.

She was a member of and/or affiliated with a number of organizations, including the Urban League, Westchester Arts Council, Westchester NAACP, Black Women’s Agenda, Black Scholars Community Partnership, Coalition of 100 Black Women and the Congressional Black Caucus. She also served as a director on the board of First Women’s Bank.

“Dotty,” as she was known to friends and loved ones, was married to her beloved Alfonso Orr, Ph.D. (a biomedical scientist and former chief of the Neurophysiology Laboratory at New York’s Long Island Research Institute), for more than 65 years. Their life together was an inspiration to many as an admirable and exemplary partnership, whether entertaining informally at their Westchester home or engaging in advocacy and the work of social advancement within such organizations as Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the Westchester Links, the Westchester Clubmen, the Guardsmen, the Couples’ Club and the Boulé to name only a few.

A trailblazer, entrepreneur and beloved aunt, Dorothy James Orr cleared a path for others to follow in the quest for greater human rights and dignity, not only for the African American community, but for all underrepresented groups.

She leaves to cherish her memory, her husband, Alfonso Orr; her nephew, Gregory James of Atlanta; sister-in-law, Naty Orr; brother-in-law, Malcolm Thomas, Sr.; and other nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. She is reunited with her brother, Richard James, who preceded her in death in 2004.

Celebration of her home going will take place on Saturday, February 7, 2015, at Grace Episcopal Church, 33 Church Street, White Plains, New York 10601. The viewing will take place at 10:30 a.m. with services to follow at 11:30 a.m. Interment will follow immediately at Kensico Cemetery 273 Lakeview Avenue, Valhalla, New York 10595 (914) 949-0347. For further information, contact J. Foster Phillips Funeral Home, www.jfosterphillips.com.

Photo: Dorothy J. Orr. Photo credit: J. Foster Phillips Funeral Home