We deeply mourn the passing of our dear dear friend, Walter Stafford, "Billy."

We deeply mourn the passing of our dear dear friend, Walter Stafford, "Billy." In so doing, we join his family, friends, colleagues, students and the many others whose lives he touched. To be Walter's friend was an honor and a joy. To read his scholarly reports on urban issues -- racial inequality, economic inequities, educational malpractice, for starters -- was to arm oneself with the important data that could lead to a better place for the powerless. We vividly remember our last peace march and demonstration against the war in Iraq where the insanities of our current political administration were cause for some of Walter's usual wry comments.

Spending weekends in Sag Harbor, going out to great dinners in celebration of our lived lives, and early morning telephone conversations about the state of the world will be painfully missed, but looking at our collection of pictures of Walter and Chelli and remembering Walter's sweet ways with Chelli, Gita, Heaven Leigh, Veni, and all the wonderful men and women he helped so selflessly, gives us some small comfort. As a scholar, activist and supporter of many just causes, he spent his energies providing evidence to support the best of American values. As a loveable charitable human being, his life stands as proof that all of us can seek to rise to higher levels of decency and compassion. He remains safely tucked away in our memories and dreams.

Charlie and Carol

A Few Words of Praise for a Man Who Deserves Much Praise and Gratitude

Walter lived a life worthy of praise, much praise, praise from on high. As a son of the south growing up during the civil rights movement, his experience with the injustice of racial prejudice was very personal. Racial prejudice neither defined nor confined Walter. He rose above it. For this I praise him.

As a professor of public policy in one of the most prestigious Public Policy Graduate Schools in the Northeast, Walter challenged and inspired his students; he forced them to broaden their horizons and question what they were told to believe. Many of them are, or will become, policy-makers in some of the most significant non-profit or government institutions in America. Walter exposed them to the concept of cultural competence. No one spoke more passionately about cultural competence than Walter. I praise Walter for this.

As a scholar-advocate Walter did not just challenge government officials and local politician to re-think programs and policies that maintain the status-quo; he did more than that. Dr. Stafford developed, and advocated for, new paradigms to address the City’s social problems. Dr. Stafford advocated for a city budgeting process that allocates funds to communities based on the negative social indices in those communities. In New York City, of course, all those communities are communities of color. He was a constant advocate for social, economic and political equality. His advocacy is worthy of praise.

The establishment of the Women of Color Policy Network is the manifestation of Walter’s compassion for the underprivileged, his passion for equality and his intellectual integrity. He understood the need for institutionalizing advocacy. Given the work he had done on the status of women of color in New York City, and his advocacy, establishing an organization to advocate for solutions to these problems was the next logical step. This too, is worthy of praise.

As I think about the times we spent together discussing public policy issues, the plight of women of color, the need to engage high school students in examining public policy issues, the history of black politics in New York City, I am reminded that those meetings were far too few, and the time we spent together was far too short. I will never forget his intellect, his compassion for the exploited, and his passion for justice. Walter inspired me. I will miss him, his advocacy, and his inspiration. Dr. Walter “Billy” Stafford is worthy of the highest praise.

May his legacy continue to inspire all who knew him.

Abe May, Jr., Equal Employment Practices Commission, New York City

HOW I MET WALTER
Edwin Dei
Sunday, October 12, 2008

Every so often I am asked how I met Walter. Here, briefly, is my story and some personal recollections.

Walter was a friend and confidant, a brother (as he would often say), a mentor, and a colleague.

I first met Walter in 1981 at the National Urban League headquarters. A few days before I graduated from Fordham University, I was approached by one of my professors, Solidelle Wasser, who taught me economics and statistics. She wanted to know if I’d be interested in doing research with one Dr. Stafford, who according to Ms. Wasser was doing very interesting work. That was the first time I heard about Walter.

As it turned out, Walter had asked my professor to recommend someone to work with him on a grant study of discrimination in employment in NYC. Before coming to Fordham, my professor held the position of Senior Economist with the Economic Analysis and Advisory Section at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Like many of us, BLS was one of the sources Walter turned to for information on the economy and other statistical data on the labor market. And that’s how he and my professor came to know each other.

I should note that more than once, Walter told me that he couldn’t thank Ms. Wasser enough.

After hearing more about some of the things Walter was working on I became interested and decided to accept the offer. I called Walter’s office to arrange for the interview. About a week or so later I went to meet Walter for the first time.

When I got to the floor where his office was located, I noticed that there were six people gathered around a table. I also noticed that one of them was wearing glasses. For some reason, I was convinced that was Walter—even though I had no prior knowledge of what he looked like. Later, as it turned out I was correct.
The interview lasted much longer than I thought it would--almost two hours, as I recall. It was an unusual interview. First, he talked about the project and related issues (i.e., the NYC labor market, employment discrimination, poverty, economic development, etc.), and the responsibilities of the research assistant. At one point I told him I planned to go to graduate school to major in political economy and development. With that the focus of the interview shifted to a discussion of international trade and the difficulties faced by developing countries in the global economy. Later, when he found out that I am from Ghana that gave him the opportunity to talk about colonialism, African liberation movements and how the fight for independence on the continent compared with the civil rights movements here in the United States. It was during our conversation that I first I learned about his involvement in the civil rights movement as a member of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.) We ended the interview with a discussion of my family.

I came out of the interview even more impressed with Walter, not only as a scholar and researcher but as an ardent advocate of justice and equality and as someone who cared a lot about people. I was particularly touched by the fact that he spent some time asking about my family. For my part, I thought I had done quite well, even if Walter did most of the talking.

Later, I knew I had the job when he introduced me to members of the staff by referring to me as this “Old African,” which I took as a term of endearment. The rest, as they say, is history.

I became his research assistant at the Urban League and later assumed the same position at the Community Service Society (CSS). He left CSS and went on to his professorship at New York University. In the meantime, I completed my graduate degree and joined the New York City Department of Employment. We kept in touch and continued our collaboration.

We collaborated on several projects—including works on education, poverty, economic development and studies on labor market segmentation. For me, the highlight was the publication of “Closed Labor Markets: Under representation of Blacks, Hispanics and Women in NYC’s Core Industries and Jobs” followed by “Employment Segmentation in New York City Municipal Agencies”. (These reports describe a stratification of the NYC labor market into a hierarchy where access to good jobs depends on factors other than skill or experience). Both were published when we were at the Community Service Society.

As a professional, Walter will be remembered for a lot of things--not least his considerable contribution to the body of scholarly work in education, labor markets, poverty and economic development. Despite his accomplishments, he was never comfortable in receiving adulation for his work. On the other hand, he was generous in sharing the spotlight with others.

As a friend, he was faithful and just to me. We seemed to have a lot in common, no wonder we hit it off the first time we met. He was the one person, besides my wife, who genuinely laughed at my jokes. (In fairness my daughter assures me she also finds my jokes funny). Walter of course was funny--sometimes. He often used self-effacing humor. He was modest, even shy—and always a model of civic decorum. He embraced my family and celebrated the achievements of my children like his own. He always tried to cheer me up when he caught me in one of my moods or if things weren’t going right for me that day. This meant that in the last couple of years he had to work even harder just to cheer me up. He comforted my wife and provided emotional support during her bout with cancer and continued to do so after her death last year—all this time when he was going through a similar and painful experience himself.

The last time I saw Walter was in his apartment on Central Park West. It was in July. I hadn’t seen him for a while and wanted to see for myself how he was doing. But he disabused me of that notion as soon as I got there. He wouldn’t discuss his health, except to say he felt alright, when I asked him about it. And he wouldn’t even discuss the ongoing project, which was something we always did whenever we spoke. Instead—and with a sense of urgency—he brought up an issue I’ve been dealing with and tried to help me find a solution.

At one point during our conversation, I told him I really appreciated all that he had done for me and my family. That kind of humanity, I told him, reminded me of only one person—my father (also an educator). At that moment tears welled up in his eyes. I understood why. Because over the years I talked to Walter quite often about my father, whom he knew I held in the highest esteem, so when I told him that he reminded me of my father he knew that was the highest compliment I could ever pay him. He sat motionless and for a while said nothing. And then without warning, he got up and took a seat at the piano. With his head bowed, his chin almost touching his chest and fingers hovering over the keyboard, he began to play this piece—a piece he later told me was a recent composition. It was a very somber piece—apocalyptic in tone. I left that day with great apprehension. That was the last time I saw Walter.

The last time I spoke to Walter, he said he was in a taxi. This was about two weeks after I paid him the visit. Since that time I had been very concerned so you can imagine my reaction when I got the call. Unfortunately, he was only able to speak for about a minute or so. I sensed he was having some difficulty speaking so I relented. That was the last time he called me. The last time we spoke.

As an aside, lately I’ve been thinking about how Walter would have reacted to the ongoing financial crisis. My guess is I would have received a call from him—most likely around noon on a Sunday. Over the years I noticed that when Walter needed to comment—at some length—about an issue of some importance: could be something he heard on the news, or something he picked up from one of several the newspapers he read daily, or a magazine, or an article from some obscure European journal—he would almost always call me around noon on Sunday to talk about it.

The keen observer of the human condition that he was, I know Walter would be greatly concerned about the fallout from the financial crisis and its impact on especially the poor. So he would have called me by now. Not to pontificate or make exaggerated claims about the imminent collapse of capitalism (we’ll leave that to Marx and Engels). Rather, to point out—once again—some of the contradictions of the economic system and, make a comment about some of the things that now pass as public policy. For example, he might point out these contradictions, among others:

• The contradiction is that despite the high productivity growth rates of recent years, a rising economic tide has failed to lift most boats. Instead, we have is increased poverty and deepening inequality, and record job losses.
  

• The contradiction is that while Wall Street enjoys unprecedented growth in profits and bonuses, on Main Street incomes stagnate, home foreclosures rise with devastating impact on communities across the country—especially poor and minority communities.

• The contradiction is that the while the government was quick to find 700 billion dollars—seemingly overnight—to bail out investment banks, it refuses to spend a tiny fraction of that amount to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program—also known as CHIP—because in the words of the government, we cannot afford it.

William Osler, the famed Canadian physician once wrote: “We are here to add what we can to life, not get what we can from it.” For me, in a nutshell, that was Walter. In my lifetime I have come across few people who have endeavored to make greater contributions to human understanding than Walter.

To paraphrase the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Walter Stafford lived a committed life—always trying to help somebody! From my modest vantage, this is how I would like to remember him.

I am profoundly grateful that I was given the chance to have known this “Old African.”