Benjamin Eagles Fountain Jr.

Benjamin Eagles Fountain Jr.

July 20, 1929 - March 12, 2016

Cary

Benjamin Eagles Fountain, Jr., age 86, long time educator in North Carolina and resident of Cary since 1971 died on March 12, 2016. Fountain's service in education in the state began as a high school teacher in the Nash County Schools in 1950 and spanned a half century. His career included posts as an elementary school principal, school superintendent, university professor, two community college presidencies and nearly eight years as the second President of the North Carolina Community College System during its formative years in the 1970s. His most recent service was membership on the Peace College of Raleigh Foundation Board of Directors concluding in 2010.

Ben Fountain was born on July 20, 1929 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina on the Edgecombe County side of the railroad tracks that first split the community in 1840. He was the son of Benjamin Eagles Fountain, reared in the nearby village of Leggett and a lawyer in Rocky Mount, and Emmie Jane Green Fountain of Fountain Inn, South Carolina who moved to Rocky Mount to teach following graduation from Winthrop College (now University).

Ben was reared in the First Presbyterian Church of Rocky Mount. He became an Eagle Scout in Troop Seven sponsored by the church. He served as teacher, Sunday school superintendent, deacon and elder in Presbyterian churches in the state. At his death he was a longtime member of the First Presbyterian Church and its Koinonia Sunday School Class in Raleigh.

Fountain was educated in the Rocky Mount Public Schools. He earned three degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: A.B. in 1950; M.Ed. in 1952; and Ph.D. in 1958. He taught English and history in the Nash County and Rocky Mount Schools and was principal of Bassett Elementary School in Rocky Mount from 1950 - 1955. In 1955 he married Martin County native Norma Fagan Roberts, music teacher and choir director.

Fountain was a Kellogg Fellow during his doctoral studies at Chapel Hill. He served as associate Executive Secretary of the North Carolina School Boards Association from 1955 – 1957. In 1958 he became a faculty member of the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was elected Superintendent of the Elizabeth City Schools in 1961. During his tenure the district schools were successfully racially integrated.

In 1965 Fountain was named President of the new Lenoir Community College in Kinston. The college grew rapidly and was recognized nationally for the successful melding of job training and academic programs on a single campus. The local history collections and programs existing on many community college campuses today were pioneered at the Kinston College. As no community college personnel leadership preparation programs existed at the time, Fountain initiated informal training activities at Lenoir. Over succeeding years Lenoir Community produced eighteen community college presidents and many other college leaders for North Carolina.

In January of 1971 Fountain became the second head of the eight-year-old North Carolina Community College System, succeeding Dr. I. E. Ready. Fountain initially refused the invitation to leave the local campus, but relented only upon the urging of Dr. Ready, long-time Fountain family friend. During Fountain's tenure as State President, and with support from State Board of Education members, governors, legislators, institution trustees and many other citizens, the system experienced a campus building boom and a marked increase in the number of students taught across the state. By the fall of 1978, when Fountain returned to a campus presidency at Isothermal Community College, each of the then fifty seven community colleges had a permanent campus, each was accredited, hundreds of new job and academic programs were open to students, and the groundwork was complete for the addition of the fifty - eighth and final college, Brunswick, to the system.

As of 1971, the recently established community college system had no formal history of de facto or statutory racial discrimination. Nonetheless the system was ordered to participate in the effort to desegregate public higher education in the state. Fountain led the effort that led to the removal of the system from the order in such a way that the traditional black institutions were protected. Throughout his service as State President, Fountain was a stalwart advocate of local control of community colleges, saying on occasion, "All wisdom is not concentrated in Raleigh." He supported unfailingly the "Open Door Policy" for students through low tuition and location of programs within commuter distance of their homes.

Upon his retirement in 1985, Fountain returned to university teaching in the Community College Leadership program at North Carolina State University at Raleigh. During this five year period he oversaw the writing of a Fiftieth Anniversary History of the North Carolina Community College System by Jon Lee Wiggs. He collaborated with Terrence Tollefson in the preparation of two editions of Community Colleges in the United States: Forty – Nine State Systems, published by the American Association of Community Colleges. He served for several years as a consultant to the North Carolina Advisory Council on Vocational Education. In his later years, as he reflected on his life as an educator, Ben was fond of quoting Thomas Carlyle's words, "Blessed is the man who has found his work."

Ben Fountain was active at various times over the years in several professional associations in education. They included President of the North Carolina Association of Community College Presidents; Chairman of the statewide Community College Advisory Council; The National Education Association; The North Carolina Association of Educators; and the Association of Directors of Community Colleges. Governor Terry Sanford appointed him to serve as Secretary of the Commission to consider the means of selection of Boards of Education. He was the founding chairman of the editorial board of the scholarly quarterly Community College Review. On the national level Fountain was one of few who opposed the massive expansion of student loan programs as a means of aiding needy students in higher education. He forecast that such loans would encourage higher education tuition increases and leave many students heavily in debt upon graduation.

Ben's civic activities over the years included: membership and keyman of the JayCees and membership and presidency of the Current Topics Club of Rocky Mount; membership on bank advisory boards in three communities; service on the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian William Black Lodge at Montreat; member of the board of the North Carolina Symphony; President of the Kinston Arts Council; and member of the Town of Cary Cable Television Advisory Committee.

Major Awards and citations received by Fountain during his life included "Man of the Year" in Kinston; The I.E. Ready Award by the State Board of Education; "Tar Heel of the Week" by the Raleigh "News and Observer," August 2, 1971; and the Hugh McEniry Award by the North Carolina Association of Colleges and Universities. While State President he was designated an honorary member of the North Carolina Association of Educational Office Personnel. In 1995 the State Board of Community Colleges named Fountain a President Emeritus of the North Carolina Community College System. On May 4, 2006 he was presented the John Tyler Caldwell Award by The North Carolina Humanities Council. Fountain was on the founding five member committee for the Council in 1971. On the day of the award an editorial in the "News & Observer" characterized him as having lived a long, rich and generous life. Ben was honored in his home town of Rocky Mount in 2007 by induction into the Twin County Hall of Fame. In 2009 he became a member of the North Caroliniana Society.

In more recent years his interests returned to United States, Edgecombe County and family history. His publications included "Fountains and Eagles of Edgecombe County, 1861 – 1865" (Carteret County Historical Society, 1999); "Fountains of Edgecombe County From 1745 and Their Genealogy" with Martha Ann Fountain Johnson (Allegra Printing, Rocky Mount, 2007); "President Washington Visits Tarborough in Edgecombe County, North Carolina" ("Lines & Pathways of Edgecombe County," Vol. 10, #3). At his death he was working on a history of the "Sparta Band," Company F of the North Carolina Thirtieth Regiment, 1861 – 1865.

Fountain is survived by his wife of more than sixty years Norma Fagan Fountain of Cary; four children, Stephanie Bynum (Jerry) of Apex, NC, Claire Watkins (Greg) of Wake Forest, NC, Benjamin Fountain III (Sharie) of Dallas, TX, Susan Eubanks (Joey) of Beaufort, NC; eight grand-children, Julia Simmons (Derek) of Seven Lakes, NC, Mary Guerrieri (Nick) of Raleigh, NC, Daniel and Michael Watkins of Raleigh, NC, John Fountain of Dallas, TX, Lee Fountain of New York, NY, Ryan and Tyler Eubanks of Beaufort, NC; and great grand-children, Braden, Emmie and Bynum. He was predeceased by his brother Arthur Green Fountain. He is survived by his sister-in-law Mary Lou of Rocky Mount, his sister, Jane Fountain Blocker of Richmond, Virginia and countless kinfolk across North Carolina and the United States.

Arrangements are by Cremation Society of the Carolinas in Raleigh.

A memorial service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Raleigh on Tuesday March 15 at 2:00 P.M. The family will receive friends at the church following the service. Burial will be at Pineview Cemetery in Rocky Mount.

Memorials can be made to the Ben and Norma Fountain Fund for the Fine Arts and Humanities at Lenoir Community College at Kinston, the Fountain Scholarship Fund at Peace College of Raleigh or The First Presbyterian Church of Raleigh.