Lee Thornton: University of Maryland Ombuds
Lee Thornton, who has served as the Ombuds for graduate students at the University of Maryland since 2012, passed away on September 25 at the age of 71. Thornton was a groundbreaking journalist, having become the first black woman to cover the White House regularly for CBS in 1977. She later later taught journalism and was an administrator at UM. (Washington Post.)
Dr. Thornton loved the University of Maryland College Park and her work there. Our lives intertwined over four decades from high school to working as speech therapists, attending Michigan State University, radio and TV gigs, to UM. When she was "Dr. T" teaching journalism in 1998, I was "Dr. G" teaching social demography and later conducting research on an NIH grant. As young Black women breaking many grounds in the 1970s and 1980s, we learned to endure. We shared laughter and good food when I traveled to Bethesda to set up a computer in her home so she could get the internet away from campus. Good memories are made from special people like "Lee." She set a high standard for her students and an even higher one for herself. We miss you already, lady "T"... you did us proud as friend, colleague, mentor, teacher, and woman extraordinaire. R.I.P.
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