Olivia Coleman Banks

The Honorable Olivia (Brown) Coleman Banks, LSCW, passed away peacefully on June 21st, 2024. She was 97 and represented, in her style, the glamor of a bygone era.

Born in Madisonville, Kentucky, on March 10th, 1927, Olivia Robena Brown was the daughter of the late Reverend Isaiah H. Brown and Ollie Hobson Brown, a homemaker and opera singer. She was the third child among six siblings. She graduated from Dunbar High School in Washington D.C., earned a BA at Howard University, and a Master's degree in Social Work from New York University.

It was at Howard University that she met and married her first husband, the late John David Coleman, an international student from Liberia. He returned to Liberia where he served as Acting Secretary of Public Works and Utilities for Liberia and the couple had two sons: Mulbah David Coleman and John DowDow Coleman before his death.

The young widow returned to the United States and began her studies at NYU, where she met her second husband, Hugh C. Banks, an ambitious young psychology student who went on to earn his PhD, become a professor at NYU, Head of his department, and eventually the first African American Vice Chancellor at New York University. The couple were blessed with a daughter, Sonia R. Banks, in 1962.

She married again in 1960 to the late Dr. Hugh C Banks, who became a Professor of Psychology, head of his department, and the first African American to serve as Vice Chancellor of New York University. In 1962 she gave birth to her daughter Sonia R. Banks.

Olivia had a distinguished career. She served with leadership distinction in a myriad of social services roles and numerous civic engagements. She was Administrative Supervisor at Interfaith Medical Center; Associate Director at Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center; Director of Social Services at Community Service Society; Social Service Director within the Manhasset School System; founded the Nassau County School Social Work Association; served on Mayor Lindsey's Task Force for Community Residence and Rehabilitation; served on the Queens Borough President's Summit on Racial and Religious Harmony; worked in Queens Child Guidance, where she opened the first South Jamaica clinic as District Clinical Administrator; was a consultant with the Supreme Court of Queens; served as a part time consultant to the Chancellor office of Parent Advocacy and Engagement; was an active member on the executive board of the advisory committee for Queens General Hospital; served as a delegate to the President's National White House Conference on Children and Youth in 1960, 1970 and 1980 under Presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon and James Carter; served as Vice President of Addisleigh Park Civic Association, where she instituted the "Adopt a School" relationship between the neighborhood schools and the association; served as a member of the youth committee of Community Planning Board 12; served for 10 years as a concerned and involved member of Community School Board 29, holding various positions including President, 1st and 2nd Vice President, while also heading up several committees; served as a member of the Joint Board of Deacons and Deaconesses at the St. Albans Congregational Church, and on the Board of Directors of its Amistad Day Care Center, and Acting President of its St. Albans Family Life Center.

However, Olivia Banks is perhaps best known for the roughly 10 year span during which she founded and lead the New Yorkers for Inclusive Educational Curricula, who took busses to Albany, monthly, to lobby for changes in the educational system so as to include the true diversity inherent in our founding principle of E Pluribus Unum. She was a lifelong member of the NAACP and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Mrs. Olivia Coleman Banks is survived by her children, Mulbah D. Coleman, John D. Coleman, Sonia R. Banks, her daughter-in-law, Sharon Simmons-Coleman, and a large extended family of sisters-in-law, cousins, nieces, and nephews. Her legacy as a compassionate advocate and community leader endures in the hearts of all who knew her.

Memorial services will be held in her honor on July 13th, 2024, between 11am and 12:30pm, at the St. Albans Congregational Church, located at 172-17 Linden Blvd, Queens, NY 11434. Flowers may be sent to the Church. If you prefer to donate to a charity near and dear to Olivia, checks payable to the Richard Coleman Family Foundation will benefit the William D. Coleman High School in Liberia.