Ambassador Leonard H.O. Spearman dead at age 78

FAMU graduate Leonard Hall O'Connell Spearman, Sr. , the sixth president of Texas Southern University and former envoy for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush died in Houston, Texas on January 16 at age 78 following a three-month hospitalization due to a stroke. An accomplished educator, leader and diplomat, he was a life-long learner, a teacher who delighted in the accomplishments of his students, and a mentor and counsellor to many.

In 1988, President Reagan appointed Dr. Spearman to be the U.S. ambassador to Rwanda, where he served until 1991 when President George H. W. Bush appointed him to be ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho. He oversaw the provision of U.S. technical support for Lesotho’s transition from 23 years of military rule and preparations for the country’s first elections in 1993. Ambassador Spearman was responsible for the development of American international schools in both Rwanda and Lesotho. He was dean of the diplomatic corps in Lesotho and was cited by the Kingdom as one of the most effective envoys it had received.

Born in 1929 in Tallahassee, Florida, Ambassador Spearman was the youngest of six children of the late Reverend and Mrs. Elvis W. Spearman, both educators. Spearman was a 1947 graduate of FAMC . He performed in the FAMC jazz band with his childhood friends Julian “Cannonball” Adderley and Nat Adderley. Dr. Spearman began his career as a science teacher at Lincoln High School in Tallahassee.

In 2001, he was appointed executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (WHI/HBCU), having the distinction of being the first former president of an HBCU to hold this position. After leaving this post, Dr. Spearman authored a paper addressing special governance issues faced by HBCUs that received attention by governors and state institutions of higher learning as a timely and in-depth model of governance standards for guiding leaders. He continued to be asked to speak about the ideas presented in this paper and continued to provide unique leadership on these topics. Dr. Spearman retired from the White House Initiative post in 2005, relocating for health reasons in 2006 to Katy, Texas, where he resided until his death.