Camden early childhood center will be renamed to honor late school board member Martha F. Wilson

Camden’s early childhood development center will be renamed Saturday to honor former school board president Martha F. Wilson, who was known as a crusader for the city’s children.

Wilson, 67, a longtime community activist, died in April 2020 after suffering a heart attack at home. The district was unable to hold a tribute previously because of the pandemic.

» READ MORE: Martha F. Wilson, Camden school board president and community activist, dies at 67

After a memorial service scheduled at noon at Camden High School, where Wilson graduated in 1970, a processional, accompanied by the school’s marching band, will walk a few blocks to the Early Childhood Development Center for the renaming. Balloons and white doves will be released. The center, to be called the Martha F. Wilson Early Childhood Development Center, enrolls about 200 preschoolers.

School Superintendent Katrina McCombs said, “Mrs. Wilson went above and beyond for the young people of Camden and by having her name on our ECDC building is a clear reminder that we not only respected her but what she stood for.” The board unanimously approved the name change last month.

She was the wife of Camden County Sheriff Gilbert “Whip” Wilson, a former assemblyman and retired city police officer. First elected to the board in 1997, she was preparing to seek reelection the year that she died.

“I feel honored that she’s being honored,” he said Friday. “She would be very humbled. Right now, she’s probably smiling down.”

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Wilson served as the president of the nine-member advisory school board that reports to McCombs, the state-appointed schools chief under the 2013 state takeover of the troubled school system.

She backed a controversial $133 million plan to demolish the iconic, century-old Camden High School and replace it with a modern campus. She helped draft policies credited with reducing the dropout rate and suspensions.

“Children and family were her passion in the community,” said school board president Wasim Muhammad, who succeeded her. “She was always involved.”

Wilson and her husband were a Camden power couple. He was elected to City Council in 1997, the same year she was elected to the school board. He later was elected to the Assembly representing the 5th Legislative District for five years. He was elected sheriff in 2015.

After attending Camden County College and Rutgers University, she joined Campbell Soup Co. as the first African American employee in the medical department. She later worked at Radio Corp. of America in Cherry Hill.

In 2009, Gov. Jon S. Corzine appointed Wilson to a five-year term on the Delaware River Port Authority.