Activist Behind the Scenes Making a Difference Has Passed 

By Reginald Stuart One of the nation’s leading behind-the-scenes advocates for Historically Black Colleges and Universities in recent times, passed this fall, leaving a path for successors to follow in the years to come. Hugh C. Burroughs, a long-time New York City philanthropic ambassador for the now defunct John Hay Whitney Foundation, helped steer thousands of dollars for research into the funding of state-controlled Black Higher education and to grants to supplement post-graduate studies for hundreds of aspiring higher education leaders. Burroughs, son of a shoemaker and shoe repairman and a homemaker in Trinidad & Tobago was the eldest of five children. He grew up in New York City where he went to high school and graduate from Columbia University in New York City. Burroughs then worked as an assistant dean of students at Columbia and then went on to work in public service at Columbia University other places.& The Whitney Foundation aid was considered phenomenal during its pioneering decades—the 1960’s through 1980’s—yet, has been overshadowed by the plethora of diversity grants in more recent years lead by billionaires ground shaking funds to boost HBCU’s. & As programs officer for the Whitney Foundation, Burroughs worked from a tiny office in...