Dr. Luella “Eudora” (Williams) Pettigrew

Dr. Luella "Eudora" (Williams) Pettigrew, age 93, of Townsend, DE, passed away after a lengthy illness on Monday, December 6, 2021.

Born in Christian County, Hopkinsville, KT, she was a daughter of the late Warren Cicero Williams and Corrye Lee Newell. Eudora's mother was a school teacher and her father a licensed County Farm agent.

She devoted her life to a career in education, which spanned more than forty years. Eudora received of Bachelor of Art from West Virginia State College, and her Doctorate of Philosophy in Educational Psychology from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, III in 1966. She served as Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut from 1966 to 1970. v then served as the Chairman and Professor of Urban Studies at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI from 1970 until 1980. She was then appointed Associate Provost at the University of Delaware and held this position from 1980 until 1986.

Dr. Pettigrew was the first African American woman to be appointed to the position of President of the State University of New York at Old Westbury in 1986. She retired from the position in 1999. Dr. Pettigrew served as Chair of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP)/United Nations Commission on Disarmament Education Conflict Resolution, and Peace, which promotes global awareness and competence as well as peace and international understanding through education. She served from 1996 to 2002 for the IAUP on the UNESCO Peace Program in Palestine. Dr. Pettigrew was the European Center's chair for the IAUP program in Austria on human rights, democracy, peace, and tolerance.

In addition to her PhD in Educational Psychology, Eudora received three honorary doctorate degrees: a PhD in Human Letters from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 1997, the second from Holy Family University in Philadelphia, PA in 2002, and the third from Western Connecticut State University in 2004. Dr. Pettigrew received many additional awards and citations over the course of her long career. In 1991, she received the Distinguished Black Women in Education Award, the National Council of Negro Women's highest citation.

Eudora retired to Hockessin, DE, where she served as a member of the Wilmington Rotary Club. Her papers are available for research in the Special Collections in the University of Delaware Library. This was a gift to the library from her son.

In addition to her parents, Eudora was preceded in death by her brother, Dr. Charles Williams and son, Jonathan Robert Pettigrew. She is survived by her son, Peter Warren Woodard.

All services will be held privately.