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Proposed Chair Would Honor African-American Business Pioneer
Topics: Demographics-DiversityAt a special reception in New York City in early March, a distinguished group of friends, relatives, and admirers of the late H. Naylor Fitzhugh (MBA '33) gathered at the home of Richard H. Jenrette (MBA '57) to consider plans for the creation of a Harvard Business School professorship in Fitzhugh's honor.
Fitzhugh, who passed away in 1992, graduated with honors from Harvard College in 1931, despite being forced to live off-campus because of his race. He was one of the first African Americans to attend HBS, where he excelled in his studies. Shunned by corporate recruiters, Fitzhugh began his career as an independent printing salesman in Washington, D.C., and established the New Negro Alliance, an organization intended to persuade companies doing business in black neighborhoods to hire employees from within those neighborhoods.
He then began a three-decade academic career at Howard University, where he helped to develop a business program by instituting a marketing department, advising business and marketing clubs, and organizing the school's Small Business Center. Switching to a corporate career in 1965, Fitzhugh joined Pepsi-Cola, where he designed and launched one of the first marketing efforts targeted at African Americans, thereby helping to establish that community as a lucrative mass market and contributing to the development of the concept of targeted marketing in corporate America.
A lifelong mentor to young African Americans, Fitzhugh was widely recognized for his community service activities. Among his many honors was the 1987 HBS Distinguished Service Award. The initiative to establish the Fitzhugh professorship is being cochaired by Dennis F. Hightower, HBS professor of management, and Nancy Lane (29th PMD), a vice president at Johnson & Johnson. Alumni who would like to learn more about the proposed professorship may contact Denise Rossman, associate director of Development (617-495-6284), or Louise Packard, director of Corporate Relations (617-496-6424).
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