James Hefner

James Arthur Hefner, Ph.D., was born June 20, 1939, in Brevard, N.C., the first child of Arthur and Cordie Hefner. He had one sibling, a younger sister, Janet Hefner, who passed away in 2014. Dr. Hefner’s father was a professional baseball player in the Negro Baseball League, playing with such greats as Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. His mother was a “domestic,” cleaning houses for white families in the small and mountainous town of Brevard.

Neither of Dr. Hefner’s parents was formally educated but insisted their inquisitive son focus on education. Dr. Hefner took their wishes to heart and, as a child, often chose reading books over playing outside. His favorite books were the encyclopedia and cowboy westerns. His hobbies were fly fishing and hunting.

Dr. Hefner attended elementary school in Brevard and was later bused to Hendersonville, N.C., to high school, where he graduated salutatorian of his class. He then attended North Carolina A&T University as a firstgeneration college student, where he met his surrogate mother and mentor Dr. Juanita Tate, an economics professor who changed his life forever. Dr. Tate insisted on making Dr. Hefner her first student to earn a Ph.D. in economics and methodically ordered his steps in doing so. It was Dr. Tate who taught Dr. Hefner that “students mattered most” and encouraged him to concentrate in employment practices and labor force participation rates of minorities. He earned his undergraduate degree from North Carolina A&T University, and later earned his master’s degree in economics from Atlanta University, and his doctorate in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

A noted economist, Dr. Hefner dedicated his 50-year professional career to students at historically black colleges and universities, pushing them against “intellectual walls” and giving them “intellectual headaches” as he would often say. Dr. Hefner served as a university president for 21 years - first at Jackson State University from 1984 to 1991, and later at Tennessee State University from 1991 to 2005. Prior to his years as president, Dr. Hefner served as provost of Tuskegee University from 1982 to 1984 and as the Charles E. Merrill Professor of Economics and chair of the Department of Business and Economics at Morehouse College from 1974 to 1981. He also taught and served as research associate at Harvard University, Princeton University, Clark College, Florida A&M University, Benedict College and Prairie View A&M University.

After retiring as president of Tennessee State University in 2005, Dr. Hefner was a non-resident fellow at Harvard University in the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research; Visiting Distinguished Professor of Economics and Presidential Leadership at Texas Southern University; and most recently as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Clark Atlanta University.

Dr. Hefner served on countless boards and committees, including: Board of Trustees at Morehouse College; Board of Regents at The University of the South; Board of Directors for the American Council on Education; and the Board of Directors for the New Orleans Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. At Morehouse, an award is named in his honor – the James A. Hefner Award – for the top graduating senior in the Division of Economics and Business Administration. He was a proud member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and served two terms as Sire Archon of the Chi Boule; Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.; the Agora Assembly; and former member of Delta of Georgia Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Morehouse College. He was also a faithful and active member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tenn.

When recently asked how he wanted to be remembered, Dr. Hefner said: “As an educator who cared about black higher education and the welfare of students.”

He leaves to cherish his memory, a wife, Edwina Hefner, three devoted sons: Christopher Hefner of St. Petersburg, Fla., Jonathan Hefner, M.D., and his wife Katrina of Atlanta, GA, David Hefner, Ed.D., and his wife Tasha of Marietta, GA; 11 grandchildren; two brothers-in-law and a sister-in-law; and a host of other family and friends.