Joseph C. Sommerville

1926 - 2020

(News story) Joseph C. Sommerville, a longtime educator and volunteer leader who as a University of Toledo professor taught leadership and service to educators, died March 15 in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, South Detroit Avenue. He was 93.

Mr. Sommerville of Monclova Township had multiple health issues and entered the hospital in early March.

"He was pretty vibrant until a month ago," his son, Joey, said.

"He had a great work ethic, but he also had a great sense of responsibility as a citizen of the world," his son said. "One of his main things was to be of service to someone else. That's who he was as a person all the time."

Mr. Sommerville - who had four graduate degrees including a doctorate - was hired by UT in 1970 and in time became a professor of administration and supervision and chairman of the department of educational leadership. He retired in 1992. For several years afterward, he taught administration and coordinated a training program for prospective principals and superintendents.

In 2016, the UT Association of Black Faculty and Staff renamed its scholarship in honor of the professor emeritus. At a tribute, Crystal Ellis, former superintendent of Toledo schools, said, "Joe Sommerville will live on and on and on in the lives he touched," according to an article in the UT News.

Mr. Ellis, 87, on Saturday recalled, "Joe was the first African American professor I had in my educational career. There was only one Joe."

He emphasized the positive and spoke with a smile, Mr. Ellis said, "and that itself opened a door that most people don't have. What a gift he was to Toledo and to all of us. Many a student is a better person because of Joe."

And they remembered.

"So many of his former students would come up to him when we were out and about - 'Oh, my God, Dr. Sommerville, you made it possible for me getting my PhD,'" his son Barry said. "He was extremely engaging."

Mr. Sommerville was a trustee of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library for more than two decades and was a former board president. In 1996, he became the first president of AARP's Ohio chapter, his appointment announced at the group's national biennial convention. He held the position for nearly six years.

At St. Paul's Missionary Baptist Church, he was a former chairman of the deacon board. He was a Sunday school teacher and a Bible student, said the Rev. James H. Willis, Sr., senior pastor.

When you were in his company, you always felt warm and greeted," Pastor Willis said. "Every pastor needs a Joseph Sommerville. He was a model of what Christianity is all about. He did not talk it. He showed how it was to be done. If there was a project to be started, he would take the lead on it."

In 2013, Mr. Sommerville was honored by the African American Legacy Project of Northwest Ohio.

He was born Dec. 28, 1926, to Rebecca and Louis Sommerville in Birmingham, Ala. He was a graduate of Parker High School and started Morehouse College in Atlanta in the same freshman class as Martin Luther King, Jr. Mr. Sommerville served in the Army for 18 months, stationed in Germany, where he became a supply sergeant. He then resumed his studies at Morehouse, from which he received a bachelor of science degree.

He taught at his alma mater, Parker High, and then went to the University of Michigan for graduate school. He considered medical school and received a master's degree in biology. He changed his focus and received master's, speciality, and doctoral degrees in education. He worked in the Inkster, Mich., schools and was a consultant for the Wayne County Intermediate School District.

He was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and its local chapter, Alpha Phi Boule'. He and the late Lancelot C.A. Thompson, a UT vice president of student affairs, were honored in 2015 as co-founders of the chapter.

He and his first wife, Mattie Cunningham, married Dec. 20, 1955. She died July 31, 2013.

Surviving are his wife, the former Olivia Curbeam Newby, whom he married in September, 2015; sons Joey and Barry Sommerville; stepsons Kevin and Shaun Newby, and grandchildren.

A memorial service will be announced later, because of the coronavirus public health crisis. Arrangements are by Dale-Riggs Funeral Home.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.