Hettie Simmons Love, the first Black woman known to earn a master’s degree from Penn’s Wharton School, has died at 100

Hettie Simmons Love, 100, formerly of Philadelphia, the first Black woman recorded to have earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and a bookkeeper, teacher, church leader, and celebrated volunteer, died Friday, July 14, of frailty syndrome at her home in Swatara Township, near Harrisburg.

Mrs. Love earned her master’s degree in accounting and business administration at Wharton in 1947 and went on to become a bookkeeper for several businesses, schoolteacher in Philadelphia, longtime treasurer at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Harrisburg, mentor, and volunteer for many organizations.

She grew up in segregated Jacksonville, Fla., and, despite overt racism and misogyny, overcame countless obstacles to excel in bookkeeping jobs with the Afro-American Life Insurance Co. in Jacksonville, American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia, and several firms in Harrisburg. She was a long-term substitute teacher at Simon Gratz High School and elsewhere in Philadelphia in the 1960s.

She helped found a Tots and Teens youth group in Philadelphia and tutored math students in Harrisburg. Erika H. James, the first Black female dean at Wharton, said in 2021 that Mrs. Love set the scene for her appointment at Penn. Fellow Wharton graduate Lana Woods said in 2017 that Mrs. Love’s contribution to “women and minority professionals … was far greater than anything measured by a corporate balance sheet or a resume.”

In February, Mrs. Love was recognized by Sen. Bob Casey and others for her “deep commitment to service” during a Black History Month celebration. Mrs. Love received a standing ovation at the event and said: “I don’t really understand how anybody cannot be an activist in this time and age. We all have an opportunity to be who we want to be, to encourage our children to be what they want to be, and to provide for them so they can become the people they want to be.”

Mrs. Love was also celebrated by Penn and the NAACP, and she won many awards, including a 2016 Trailblazer Award from the local chapter of the National Black MBA Association, a 2021 Torch of Global Enlightenment Award from the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg, and a 2022 Black Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Literacy Corporation.

A group of grade school students even published a book about her life, Hettie Simmons Love: Penn Pioneer, in 2021. Two educational scholarships have been established in her honor.

“I had so much love and respect for Ms. Hettie and her beautiful smile,” a friend said in an online tribute. “What a wonderful lady with a heart of gold.”

Hettie Francessor Simmons was born Oct. 29, 1922. She was senior valedictorian at Boylan-Haven boarding school and earned a bachelor’s degree in math at Fisk University in Nashville in 1943. She went to Penn for her master’s degree because her mother had friends in Philadelphia.

She was the only Black student and one of only two women in the program at Wharton. But she met another student, George H. Love Sr., and three Jewish men routinely invited her to study with them.

“When I had an opportunity to go to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, I jumped at the chance.”

She and Love married in 1948, and had son George H. Jr. and daughter Karen. They lived in West Philadelphia until her husband became Pennsylvania’s assistant commissioner for basic education, and they moved to Harrisburg in 1971. He died in 2014.

Mrs. Love taught English in Turkey in 1962 and 1963 while her husband was in the Fulbright teacher exchange program. She was active at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia and later at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Harrisburg.

She helped form the Harrisburg chapter of the Links service organization, was on the board of the local YWCA, and served in the Retired Seniors Volunteer Program. She celebrated 75 years of membership in the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in 2016, and her sorority colleagues said she enhanced “the lives of all whom she touched throughout her purpose-driven lifetime.”

Mrs. Love and her husband traveled the world often and vacationed with family in Amelia Island, Fla. She was a two-time survivor of breast cancer, liked to garden and read, and knew all the best words for Scrabble.

“We had a house full of books and a dictionary 6 inches thick,” her son said. “She always said: ‘Go look it up.’ With her, there were no shortcuts.”

Her daughter said: “She was sweet, but she told it like it was. She was constantly teaching with a loving way.” A friend said: “She will be missed tremendously.”

In addition to her children, Mrs. Love is survived by two grandchildren and other relatives. A brother and sister died earlier.

Visitation with the family is 9 to 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 26, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 248 Seneca St., Harrisburg, Pa. 17110. A celebration of her life is to follow at 11 a.m.

Donations in her name may be made to the Dr. George H. and Mrs. Hettie S. Love “Love of Learning” Scholarship, The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, 200 N. Third St., 8th Floor, Harrisburg, Pa. 17101; and the Hettie S. Love Scholarship, AKA Foundation of Central Pennsylvania, P.O. Box 61244, Harrisburg, Pa. 17107.