Brooklyn-Long Island (NY) Alumni

Brooklyn-Long Island (NY) Alumni was chartered on April 9, 1949. It was the second alumni chapter established in the state of New York, the sixth in the Northeastern Province, and the 50th of the fraternity. The chapter can be found online, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and via email.

## Leadership

The executive committee of Brooklyn-Long Island (NY) Alumni is led by the following officers, who were elected in May 2018 and installed at the subsequent chapter meeting:

 Vice Polemarch
 Strategus

Other elected members of the chapter include Kevin Boston-Hill (Brooklyn-Long Island [NY], 1994), Michael Brewington (Zeta Epsilon, 1979), Donald Butler (Eta Omega, 1981), Brandon Gill (Brooklyn-Long Island [NY], 2019), Clarence Gray, (Brooklyn-Long Island [NY], 2007), Shawn Mason (Columbia [MD], 1998), Terome Parham (Brooklyn-Long Island [NY], 2019), Matthew Robinson (Brooklyn-Long Island [NY], 2017), Shelton Rose (Gamma Omega, 1990), Thomas Singleton (Alpha Lambda, 1950), and Walter Dogan (Pi, 1973)

## Meeting Schedule

The chapter meets on the third Saturday of every month (for brothers only) with the venue alternating between Brooklyn, New York, and Westbury, Long Island. The chapter meets officially from September through June of the following year. All members of the fraternity are welcomed to attend. The meeting starts at 6:00 pm sharp. The dress code, business attire, is strictly enforced.

## History

### Charter Members

The 15 charter members of Brooklyn (NY) Alumni were **Lewis S. Flagg, III**, who served as the first Polemarch, Elliott J. Barnett (Beta, 1934), **Williams Brooks**, Wesley H. Carrion (Alpha Pi, 1946), Claude B. Cave (Omicron, 1932), William M. Chisholm (Omicron, 1933), Randolph Risley Dent, Jr. (Beta, 1933), Clifton E. Gross (Omicron, 1941), Frank C. Johnson (Kappa, 1915), Charles R. Joseph (Kappa, 1933), **Leroy A. Payne**, Rudolph Scott (Epsilon, 1922), Frizzell J. Smith (Delta, 1918), Austin W. Sobers (Xi, 1937), and LaVerte T. Warren (Epsilon, 1941).

### Early History

The chapter was originally established as Brooklyn (NY) Alumni, with the vision to spread the concepts and ideas of Kappa Alpha Psi in the Brooklyn community. But in 1960, as African American families moved to the New York suburbs in Nassau and Suffolk counties, the chapter's designation was changed to Brooklyn-Long Island (NY) Alumni.

### Past Polemarchs

Brooklyn-Long Island (NY) Alumni has enjoyed stable leadership throughout its history from the following members:

## Chapter Invisible

It is with sincere regret that we announce the passing of the following members:

* Michael Eugene Cotton (Queens [NY] Alumni, 1991) died of a cardiac arrest on July 9, 2020. He was 57.
* Lloyd Cornelius Porter (Iota Beta, 1993), the former owner of Bread Stuy Bakery in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, passed away on May 8, 2020, from complications associated with COVID-19. He was 49.
* John Adewumi (Delta Beta, 1985), an owner of Amarachi Lounge in Downtown Brooklyn, passed away from complications associated with COVID-19 on April 17, 2020. He was 57 years old.
* Past Polemarch Mingo Wessley Dicks (Gamma Mu, 1950) died on April 23, 2018, at his home in Wiliston, South Carolina. He was 92;
* Clarence A. Howard (Brooklyn-Long Island [NY] Alumni, 1997) passed away on March 4, 2017. He was 72;
* John Doman Lee (Mu Chi, 1992) passed away on October 17, 2016; he was 43;
* Sitting Vice Polemarch Philip Felix Romain (Delta Beta, 1981) passed away on January 8, 2016; he was 54;
* Past Polemarch Edward Crider, III (Tau, 1938) passed away on June 13, 2014; he was 94;
* Charles R. Pettey (Alpha Epsilon, 1941) passed away January 26, 2014 at his nursing home in Rhinebeck, New York; he was 90;
* Past Polemarch Wesley Carrion (Alpha Pi, 1946), a veteran of the Second World War, was killed on September 30, 2013; he was 90. He succumbed to smoke inhalation when his Sag Harbor home filled with smoke from a fire was started in another room. Carrion had served as a member of the Red Ball Express, an Army unit that supplied troops with weapons and food during the invasion of Normandy.
* Frederick Miles, Jr. (Brooklyn-Long Island [NY] Alumni, 1987);
* Frederick Miles (Alpha Phi, 1947);
* Thomas Watkins (Alpha Phi, 1934);
* Lafayette Stubbs (Beta Rho, 1954);
* James Stafford (Alpha Xi, 1954);
* James Pierce (Alpha Lambda, 1935);
* Charter member Thaddeus Owens (Pi, 1936) died on July 21, 2007, at his home in Brooklyn, New York. He was 88; the cause of death was cancer;
* Spencer Jones (Alpha Tau, 1947);
* Matthew Jones (Beta Phi, 1948);
* Hamilton Jenkins (Delta Mu, 1955);
* Preston Lambert (Delta Mu, 1955);
* Charter member and Past Polemarch Clifton Gross (Omicron, 1941);
* Pinkney Davis Gamma Nu, 1949);
* John Chriss (Gamma Chi, 1951);
* Charter member William M. Chisholm (Omicron, 1933);
* Donald Brown (Brooklyn-Long Island [NY] Alumni, 1991);
* Richard Brock (Alpha Lambda, 1938);
* Charter member R. Risley Dent (Beta, 1933), the democratic nominee for a 11th State Senate seat in Brooklyn, New York, died on June 7, 1964. He suffered a heart attack in the Concord Hotel, Monticello, New York, and was only 52 years old.

## Fraternal Contributions

Brooklyn-Long Island (NY) Alumni has participated in the following fraternity events:

* hosted the 21st Northeastern Province Council in 1951;
* hosted the 29th Northeastern Province Council in 1959;
* hosted the 40th Northeastern Province Council in 1970;
* hosted the 62nd Northeastern Province Council in 1992;
* assisted Delta Mu in hosting the 32nd Northeastern Province C. Rodger Wilson Leadership Conference at Long Island University in 1993;
* hosted the New York City Metro Area Founders' Day Luncheon in 2017.
* hosted the Northeastern Province Kappa League Summit at Molloy College in 2018.
* hosted the 89th Northeastern Province Council in 2019, and the preceding Northeastern Province Polemarch's Roundtable six months earlier.

The chapter has produced two Grand Chapter officers including Donell H. Edgerton III (Alpha Phi, 1951), who was elected chairman of the Grand Chapter Nominating Committee and served for 19 years; William S. Eaddy, Jr. (Alpha Theta, 1945), who was elected as Grand Chapter Recorder; and Kevin Boston-Hill (Brooklyn-Long Island [NY], 1994), who was appointed chairman of the National Guideright Committee in 2016.

The chapter has produced two Northeastern Province Polemarchs including William M. Chisolm (Omicron, 1933), who served from 1951 to 1953; and Michael Brewington (Zeta Epsilon, 1979), who served from 2002 to 2007.

The chapter has also produced four recipients of the James M. Kidd Distinguished Service Award, which is the highest honor bestowed upon a member of the Northeastern Province. The awardees include:

* Clifton E. Gross (Omicron, 1941)
* Donald H. Fields (Delta Mu, 1956)
* Michael Brewington (Zeta Epsilon, 1979).
* Kevin Boston-Hill (Brooklyn-Long Island [NY], 1994)

## Notable Achievers

* **William M. Chisholm** (Omicron, 1933) was an attorney and a partner at Davis, Owens, & Dent, the first all-Negro law partnership in Brooklyn, New York. He served as spokesman for the group. Having previously served 13 years as a member of the New York Fire Department, he established the Vulcan Society, which partnered with NAACP to fight discriminatory hiring practices.
* **R. Risley Dent** (Beta, 1933) was an attorney and partner at Davis, Owens, & Dent. He served as president of the Brooklyn chapter of the NAACP and chairman of the Kings County Democratic Committee, before seeking the party's nomination to represent New York's 11th Senate district. In a February 1964 primary, he handily defeated five-term Democratic incumbent, Walter E. Cooke, only to succumb to a heart attack in June 1964. Had Dent run in the general election, it is widely accepted that he would have easily won, producing New York's first democratically elected black state senator. Instead, his replacement, William C. Thompson, holds that distinction.
* **Thaddeus E. Owens** (Pi, 1936) was an attorney, a partner at Davis, Owens, & Dent, and a former justice of the New York State Supreme Court. Early in his career, he served on the board of the Brooklyn NAACP and became active in local politics, which led to his election as a civil court judge. In 1989, he presided over the murder trial of a white mob in Bensonhurst, who were accused of killing Yusuf Hawkins, an African-American who has in the area to buy a used car. Under media scrutiny which stoked racial tensions throughout New York City, the proceeding resulted in a first-degree murder conviction for 19-year old Joseph Fama, the principal instigator, and convictions on lesser charges for four other defendants.

## Organization

### Foundation

The Brooklyn-Long Island Alumni Scholarship Fund was established in 1994 as a 501(c)(3) corporation. It is the non-profit vehicle which funds college scholarships to graduating high school seniors in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau counties. Since inception, the fund has distributed over $50,000 in scholarship awards ranging in size from $500 to $2,500. The Scholarship Fund's signature event, the  Annual Scholarship Ball, has been the venue in which the scholarship recipients have been showcased and honored.

### Governance

Brooklyn-Long Island (NY) Alumni provides oversight over **Delta Mu**, on behalf of the **Northeastern Province Polemarch,** and is the primary point of contact for fraternity activity at Long Island University (Brooklyn, Brentwood, Riverhead campuses), Brooklyn College, Medgar Evers College, Pratt Institute, St. Francis College, St. Joseph's College, and the Tandon School of Engineering at New York University.

## Updates

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