Last Updated on December 21, 2006 by Paulette Brown-Hinds
By BILL STAGG and JAMIE SCHUMAN
Special to NNPA
Benjamin S. “Ben” Ruffin — who grew up in Durham’s rough-and-tumble West End neighborhood and saw his star soar in the state’s civil rights, corporate, political and educational universes — died Thursday of an apparent heart attack. He was 64.
Mr. Ruffin, the first — and only — Black chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, was stricken at his home in the Winston-Salem suburb of Lewisville after jogging Thursday morning and could not be revived, said UNC spokeswoman Joni Worthington.
“The University lost a great leader today,” UNC President Erskine Bowles said in a statement. “… Our hearts go out to the family of this great North Carolinian.”
Former Gov. Jim Hunt learned of his former aide’s death during a trip to New York.
“I’m deeply distressed,” Hunt said. “I consider Ben Ruffin to be one of the most effective leaders of our state in the last half-century. Ben’s death is a special loss to me. He’s probably the hardest working person with whom I ever worked. People said at the time that he was the only person who outworked the governor.
“He worked tirelessly to see that everyone could be part of the North Carolina dream.”
Bell called Mr. Ruffin’s impact on the community “immeasurable.”
“He made contributions in so many different ways, from his time as a community activist to the time he was working with the governor, and his contributions on the [UNC] Board of Governors,” Bell said. “And the little things he’d do in terms of staying in contact with people in the community.
Lavonia Allison, chairwoman of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, said Mr. Ruffin was a man respected in everything he did who “always gave 200 percent as a public servant.”
The Durham Committee honored Mr. Ruffin in 2005, citing his contributions as an educator, civic leader, humanitarian, motivator, organizer and visionary.
State Sen. Jeanne Lucas of Durham said Mr. Ruffin’s death “leaves a terrible void in North Carolina.”
State Rep. Paul Luebke of Durham said Mr. Ruffin had such remarkable skills that Gov. Jim Hunt chose him in 1977 as his special assistant for minority affairs.
“He’ll be sorely missed,” Luebke said.
At the time of his death, Mr. Ruffin was an emeritus member of the UNC system’s Board of Governors, which oversees the system’s 16 campuses.
Mr. Ruffin would sometimes talk about growing up in poverty in Durham and how his mother, Catherine, encouraged him to excel in school, said James Ammons, NCCU chancellor and friend of Mr. Ruffin.
“He really did come from the rough side of the mountain, and I think because of that he learned to care for other people and to try to always make it better for them,” Ammons said, adding that Mr. Ruffin established a scholarship fund at the university in honor of his late mother.
Besides excelling in school, Mr. Ruffin also was heavily involved in the civil rights movement in Durham. He and others helped organize sit-ins and other demonstrations aimed at integrating businesses in Durham, said state Rep. Mickey Michaux, D-Durham. The activists’ work served as a model for similar efforts across the state and the South, Michaux said.
“Ben was always out front with it,” Michaux said. “He had a sense of community and a sense of pride. He had a sense of knowing where he was going.”
Bowles said Mr. Ruffin’s 16 years on the UNC board were “a remarkable statement about the respect and trust” he earned from his fellow board members.
” … Ben will always be remembered for his positive outlook on life, his great loyalty and determination, and his bedrock belief in the power of education to make our state a better place,” Bowles said.
“The leadership and wisdom that Ben Ruffin brought to everything he did will positively impact the lives of the people of North Carolina for generations to come.”
Brad Wilson, a former chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, was vice chairman under Mr. Ruffin, whom he knew for more than 30 years.
“Ben was a great guy and we’re going to miss him, that’s for sure,” Wilson said. “Ben was a passionate and articulate spokesman for the many issues that he cared about in North Carolina.”
The issues weren’t limited to leadership in higher education, Wilson said, but included civil rights, access and quality in higher education or “helping a friend.”
Mr. Ruffin cut his leadership teeth in the civil rights protests of the 1960s, then went on to work with Hunt, chair the Durham Housing Authority, lead the N.C. Human Relations Council, become a senior corporate official with North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Durham and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. of Winston-Salem, and serve two terms as UNC Board of Governors chairman.
“You are a creature of your environment. My environment [growing up] was one where I was excluded,” he said when he stepped aside in 2002. “So when I got the chance, I erred on the side of inclusion. I know what a university can do, and I know what it did for me personally.”
Mr. Ruffin surprised many people when, in 1978, he went to work as a special assistant for minority affairs for Gov. Hunt, longtime friend Maceo Sloan said.
“He had been an outside activist, and I think what happened when he decided to work for the governor is he realized it’s a lot easier to change things from the inside,” said Sloan.
At the time of his death, the Hillside High School, N.C. Central University and UNC alumnus was leading his own consulting firm, The Ruffin Group.
Mr. Ruffin is survived by his wife, Avon, and two children. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Thursday night.
Staff writer Ray Gronberg and The Associated Press contributed to this story.