Tributes

DOCTOR KENNETH ORLANDO MORGAN was born on January 11, 1945, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Sarah McColley and Alvin Morgan. Ken grew up and attended public schools in West Philadelphia, graduating from Overbrook High School as a good student and outstanding 6’7-inch basketball power forward. Competed with and against the likes of Wilt Chamberlin, Earl Monroe and many others in the nationally recognized Baker summer basketball league. His basketball exploits earned him a basketball scholarship at Temple University in Philadelphia. After his basketball dream of playing for the Boston Celtics with his idol Bill Russell was dashed, he gained admission to the internationally recognized and prestigious Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania with a Master's Degree and later a PhD from Morgan State University. Upon graduating from Wharton, Ken was employed as a consultant in the Washington, DC Mayor’s Office, Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of Washington, DC, National AFUCIO and a number of other local and national not- for-profit organizations. Those experiences positioned Ken to become the Director of Equal Opportunity Admission Program at the University of Maryland College Park in 1973. Ken was a staunch advocate for student admissions fairness, minority student matriculation support programs and increasing minority undergraduate enrollment in majors such as economics, health sciences, visual and broadcast communications. Ken also mentored and advised athletes on campus such as future NBA players John Lucas, Maurice Howard, Len Elmore and many others who may have fallen short of achieving their professional basketball dream. During his tenure at the University of MD, Ken could not only be found playing pickup basketball games on campus, he was a staunch advocate on behalf of minority faculty, campus administrators and academic advisors which became a hallmark of his future roles as an on-campus educator in higher education at Coppin University, Community College of Baltimore, Harford Community College. His most recent role at Coppin University as an adjunct professor in the Urban Studies Department (a curriculum he designed, developed and implemented) gave him an opportunity to nurture and intellectually develop students, engage with community organizations and activist and advocate for policies that emphasized equity, fairness and access to resources to improve life within various inner city Baltimore communities. Kenneth O. Morgan, PhD was not just tall, he was a giant of a man intellectually, as a husband, educator and friend who advocated for fairness and justice wherever he stood. HE WILL BE MISSED!

Tributes

Dr. Kenneth O. Morgan

January 11, 1945 - February 22, 2026