The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Civil rights activist, educator, businessman led by example
Expert in banking, finance known for modest demeanor.
As Brigitte Morrow Killings prepared for her 1996 wedding, her stepfather, Edward Irons, insisted that she make a budget for the big day.
This, though, was no ordinary budget.
Irons, a banking and finance expert, “literally had me put together a fullfledged budget . ... I quickly learned about (profit and loss) statements. Everything was a line item — the recep- tion, food, flowers. I had to sit across from the kitchen table and present this budget to him, and he questioned me about everything.”
It also meant making regular reports to him.
“Oh, it was serious,” said Morrow Killings, a divisional director for community banking and business development for Jpmorgan Chase. Then Irons blew the budget by booking an entire restaurant instead of two rooms for the reception and taking every out-of-town guest to brunch.
Irons, a dean emeritus at Clark Atlanta University and a longtime educator, businessman and author, died Jan. 17 of heart disease. He was 98.
He was involved in the civil rights movement and was the second African American to earn a doctorate in business administration from Harvard University’s School of Business. He co-founded a Black-owned bank in Texas in 1964, was superintendent of banking for Washington, D.C., was founding dean of Howard University’s busi- ness school and was execu- tive director of the National Bankers Association.
When Irons received his doctorate degree, his adviser and professor told him that “as you grow in stature, always grow in humility.”
He did, said his wife of 34 years, Joyce Irons. “Ed felt one should talk less about oneself or his accomplish- ments; that if someone wants to know more about you, they would do their own research.”
In a Storycorps interview, Irons talked about being active in the civil rights movement in Tallahassee, Fla., while he was assistant business manager at Flor- ida A&M University.
FAMU students started a bus boycott similar to the one in Montgomery, refusing to sit in the back. The move- ment spread to faculty, staff and the larger community.
FAMU’S president called his staff together said they had to leave the movement. Irons refused, telling the president that he was “fighting for my babies and babies who look like them across the country.”
It was a bold step because Irons had just bought and fur- nished a new house. When it came times for raises, he and others who were protesting were left out. Irons knew it was time to go, and eventually enrolled at Harvard.
Daughter Trisha Lynn Irons of Fairfax, Va., a senior project manager at Light- house Global, called her dad a trailblazer.
“He was the first in many instances, and he was all about giving back,” she said. “When he could have had opportunities to teach at other institutions of higher education, he consistently chose (historically black colleges and universities) because it was important to him. He did the same thing with his skills and knowledge — growing and building the Black banking industry.”
He also was a proud dad. Trisha Irons remembers meals around the kitchen table and being quizzed about the day’s news. Her dad made sure that “we were aware of what was going on in the world, outside the household.”
Kermit Majett, a friend and fellow Ben Hill United Methodist Church member, said Irons “was always smil- ing and had a pleasant word and a positive attitude for everybody.”
Majett once stopped by to see the family and saw many awards, pictures and plaques, testaments to his friend’s accomplishments.
“You will never know much how God used him to touch so many lives in so many areas,” he said.
Irons is survived by his wife; five children, Trisha Lynn Irons, Edward Daryl Ir o ns Jr. (Angie Ir o ns), Tamara Joy Irons (Cather- ine Walker), Tony Rene Morrow and Brigitte Morrow Killings; 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. today at Clark Atlanta University’s Haven-warren Hall, followed by a private service at Westview Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Edward Irons Scholarship Fund, Clark Atlanta University School of Business Administration.