Samuel Cleveland Usher, Jr, 87, of Hartsdale, NY died peacefully at Westchester Medical Center on November, 30, 2013.
Sam was born in Atlanta on September 13, 1926, as the middle child of the Rev. Samuel and Eleanor Jefferson Usher. His early years were spent in Fort Valley, Georgia where he parents were on the faculty of Fort Valley State University and on the campus of Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina where his father served as a classics professor and Episcopal chaplain. For junior high and high school, Sam attended and graduated from Mather Academy, a private prep school in Camden, South Carolina. He entered Hampton University in 1943, was drafted in 1945 between his sophomore and junior years and served in the Army of Occupation in Germany (assigned as an observer to the Nuremburg Trials) for nearly two years. He returned to Hampton to complete his studies: graduating in 1949 with a degree in math and accounting.
After graduation, Sam enrolled in classes at NYU’s Graduate School of Business then returned to the South for several years to join the instructional staff in the Department of Economics at Prairie View University in Prairie View Texas.
Upon returning to New York City in the early fifties, Sam was employed by the Methodist Church headquarters in New York as an accountant and later worked for the New York State Taxation Department as an auditor. In 1958, Sam received a Master’s Degree in business education Columbia University’s Teachers College.
In the ensuing thirty-two years, Sam taught accounting and business math for the New York City Board of Education first at the junior high level and then at Benjamin Franklin HS in Manhattan where he taught and served as department chairman and at Martin Van Buren High School in Queens Village where he taught and coordinated the Cooperative Education Work-Study Program.
In retirement Sam served on the Board of Trustees of the Hamilton Grange Day Care Center in Harlem, was the co-chair of the Bailey Estates Neighborhood Association in Mount Vernon, NY, was active with the Hampton University Alumni Association of Westchester, and served on the Board of Trustees of the Community Unitarian Church at White Plains. Sam also served as an administrator with the VISTA funded Literacy Volunteers of Westchester County and volunteered as a mentor for new high school teachers for the NYC Board of Education. Additional activities included volunteering with the Arts in Education and Marketing Departments of the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase and serving as a mentor with the Black Scholars Program. Sam was a member of both Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Westchester Boule and the Couple’s Club of Westchester.
Sam deeply loved classical music and jazz and he sang for many years in church choirs. His life was enriched by his appreciation of fine art, his enjoyment of world travel, tennis, and the company of good people.
Sam leaves behind his wife of fifty years, Adine; sons, Stephen and Lawrence and spouses Emily and Maya; three grandsons: Taj, Hugh and Kimaya; a sister, Mary-Lou, two cousins, one niece, five nephews and many, many dear friends.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held on January 11, 2014 at 3:00 pm at the Community Unitarian Church in White Plains, NY. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to www.splcenter.org.
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