Memorial service for Bristow set for Friday on
Alcorn campus
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. - A public memorial service will be held Friday morning for Alcorn State University President Clinton Bristow Jr., who was found dead on a track Saturday night on the Lorman campus.
Bristow, 57, apparently collapsed and died while jogging. An autopsy was being performed Monday night, hours after classes started at the southwest Mississippi 1,700-acre campus.
"Everything went very smoothly," said university spokesman Christopher Cason. "It was a typical first day of class."
Claiborne County coroner J.W. Mallett said he expected to release autopsy results to Bristow's family late Monday and to the public on Tuesday.
A viewing of Bristow's body is planned for 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Oakland Memorial Chapel on the Alcorn campus, the university said.
The memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the David L. Whitney Health, Physical Education and Recreation Complex on the campus.
The state College Board named Malvin Williams, 64, as interim president. The longtime administrator retired from Alcorn State last year.
Alcorn State, one of three historically black public universities in Mississippi, has about 3,500 students. Its main campus is in Lorman, and it offers classes in Natchez and Vicksburg.
Lawrence A. Davis Jr., president of University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and chairman of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Council of Presidents, called Bristow "a leader among leaders."
"In my opinion, he was one who made a difference in black college academics as well as in the SWAC," Davis said in a statement posted to Alcorn State's Web site.
Bristow was named Alcorn State president on Aug. 24, 1995.
Commissioner of Higher Education Thomas Meredith said the decision to start classes on schedule Monday was intended to give students and faculty a chance to discuss Bristow's death.
"It is a tribute to President Bristow's leadership style that the university can move ahead in the midst of this terrible loss," Meredith said.
Posted By: Jehan Bunch
Tuesday, August 22nd 2006 at 12:40PM
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