Dear staff, volunteers, trustees and members of the Newark Museum family, It is with heaviest of hearts that I write to inform you that we suffered a loss of tremendous measure today with the passing of Dr. Clement A. Price. Generous of spirit and gentle of soul, Clement is beloved as a historian, teacher, mentor, husband, friend, citizen, neighbor, collaborator, patron of the arts and humanities, public servant, public intellectual, advisor to leaders at all levels of government, and clear-eyed observer of Newark. Above all, he will be remembered by our museum family standing at the side of his wife, Newark Museum director emerita Mary Sue Sweeney Price. Clement was a tireless ambassador and advocate for the museum and its programs; his participation was direct and impactful. He was a founding member of the Newark Black Film Festival, America’s oldest and largest, presented for more than forty years by the Newark Museum. He was also co-founder of the acclaimed annual Marion Thompson Wright Lecture Series, the oldest, largest and most prestigious Black History Month event in the state. Together, these events have drawn tens of thousands of people over the decades to watch, listen, learn, and engage with each other over shared civic challenges. In addition, Clement was founding director of the Rutgers Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience, a catalyst of civic engagement that has celebrated its second decade as an interdisciplinary academic center that presents public lectures, fellowships, symposia, film screenings, performances, exhibitions, and other programs that foster broad public discussion on the arts and culture, urban life and development, diversity and race relations, education, and history at the local, national, and transnational levels. Many of the events presented by the Institute were either presented at or co-sponsored by the Newark Museum. While each of us felt that Clement’s attention was personal, just for us, his reach and influence were broad. He chaired President Obamas 2008 transition team for the National Endowment for the Humanities and was vice-chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. He was the Newark City Historian and chairman of the 350th anniversary of Newark’s founding in 1666. His leadership roles included the Fund for New Jersey, the Save Ellis Island Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Newark Education Trust, the advisory council for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and the Scholarly Advisory Committee to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. He chaired the New Jersey State Council on the Arts from 1980 to 1983 and he held honorary degrees from William Paterson University and Drew University. It is an extraordinary individual that can provide optimism for society and restore confidence in humanity. Clement Price was one such being. The world is a poorer place today, but we are all richer for having known and worked with him. Thank you, Clement Price. Funeral arrangements are pending and I will contact you with further details as they become available. Let us continue to offer love and support to Mary Sue and to Clement’s family. -Steven Kern, CEO and Director
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 22:29:44 +0000
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