Herman D. James, 67; was N.J. college president

Dr. Herman D. James, 67, who was president of the former Glassboro State College when it received $100 million from industrialist Henry Rowan and was renamed for its benefactor, died Saturday, Oct. 2, of heart failure at home in Voorhees.

During his tenure as president of the Glassboro school from 1984 to 1998, Dr. James oversaw huge changes, establishing a college of engineering, starting the first doctoral program at a New Jersey state college, and achieving university status.

"He created a remarkable legacy, and will be sorely missed by all who knew him," said the current Rowan University president, Donald J. Farish.

Dr. James was the fifth president of the school and the only African American to hold the post.

He earned his bachelor's degree from Tuskegee University in 1964 and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1972.

When Dr. James began working at Glassboro in 1982 as vice president for academic affairs, the school was suffering declining enrollments and struggling financially.

As part of his early reorganization effort, he started a fund-raising program, which was unheard of at the time for public colleges, said Phil Tumminia, whom Dr. James selected to lead the effort.

"He was the one who brought fund-raising to state colleges across the country," said Tumminia, who was vice president of advancement until retiring in 2007.

The idea that Glassboro State should pursue donations the way private schools do resulted in the 1992 gift of $100 million by Henry and Betty Rowan, up to that point the largest gift ever to a public college or university.

The primary goal of the money was to create an engineering school, including the construction of a $28 million engineering building. The school opened in 1996.

"They did a marvelous job. It's worked out very well," Henry Rowan said Sunday.

After stepping down as president, Dr. James taught sociology and educational leadership courses until last year, even volunteering to teach introductory sociology.

Dr. James' daughter Sybil said she took her two children to see their grandfather teach last November so they could witness what he was like in a professional setting, as compared with the playful atmosphere of home. "It means a lot to me and a lot to my children to have seen that," she said.

Thomas Gallia, who was chief of staff for Dr. James and holds the same job with Farish, recalled how Dr. James was a presence on campus, greeting everyone he saw on the short walk from Hollybush Mansion, where he lived, to the administration building.

"Herman was an exceptional person," Gallia said. "He was able to handle crises, he was able to handle happy times and sad times with dignity and patience like nobody else I've known," he said.

Dr. James came with his family to New York from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands when he was 10, and grew up in Harlem, where he developed a love of jazz. For two hours a month, he shared that music with listeners on Rowan's radio station, WGLS-FM, according to a 1994 Inquirer article.

Besides his daughter Sybil and two grandchildren, Dr. James is survived by his wife, Marie; another daughter, Renee; a son, Sydney; as well as four brothers and two sisters.

Rowan University plans to have a memorial service at a future date. A memorial service for family and friends is scheduled for noon Friday, Oct. 8, at Platt Memorial Chapels in Cherry Hill.

Burial is private.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Herman and Marie James Scholarship Fund at Tuskegee University.