Dr. Andrew Brimmer, long time chairman of the Tuskegee University Board of Trustees and the first black member of the Federal Reserve Board, died Sunday at the age of 86. From the university’s statement on his death:

“If, as Booker T. Washington asserted, a man should be judged by the obstacles he had to overcome in life, then Dr. Andrew F. Brimmer was indeed a giant and his lifetime accomplishments should continue to be an inspiration to future generations,” said Tuskegee University President Gilbert L. Rochon.

From the New York Times obituary on Dr. Brimmer:

Dr. Brimmer, an economist, held a number of high-ranking posts in Washington and taught at Harvard, but the economic conditions of poor, powerless, uneducated blacks was an abiding concern. He spoke about what he called the “schism” between blacks who were educated and had marketable skills and those who did not. In later years he spoke frequently about how government policies no longer supported programs to help blacks enter the economic mainstream.

Dr. Andrew Brimmer Tuskegee University