Female Black Civic Leader Dies at 97

NEW YORK CITY—Mrs. Dolores May Duncan Wharton died on June 7, 2025. Dolores was a former corporate director, foundation executive and arts advocate. Born on July 3, 1927 into New York City’s Black high society, Dolores’ family owned and operated a leading funeral home in Harlem.

As a child, she attended the progressive Little Red School House and the Neighborhood Playhouse Conservatory, where she studied modern dance with Martha Graham. After moving to Danbury, Connecticut for her high-school years, she later received her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Chicago State Teacher’s College.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Dolores and her husband, Clifton R. Wharton Jr., lived in Singapore and Malaysia. Following her return to the United States, she wrote the first book on the contemporary artists of Malaysia.

In 1969, Dolores became the first lady of Michigan State University, when her husband was appointed president of the university. As first lady, Wharton strengthened the university’s relationship with the greater Lansing, Michigan area, as well as the student body.

Dolores was elected the first woman and first Black to the boards of three corporations: Phillips Petroleum, the multinational food company Kellogg’s—where she initiated and chaired both companies’ first social responsibility committees—and the media company Gannett. She also served on the boards of both Michigan Bell Telephone and New York Telephone, the Michigan Council on the Arts under Gov. William Milliken, and was appointed by President Gerald Ford as a founding member to the National Council on the Arts. In addition, Dolores was a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art for many years and the Albany Institute of History and Art.

Other profit and nonprofit boards included the Key Bank, Golub Inc., NPR, New York City Center, the Asia Society, Aspen Institute, the SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology and the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown. She was very proud of creating and operating the Fund for Corporate Interns Inc., a nonprofit organization which was devoted to strengthening the role of minorities and women in the corporate world. This was done while also being the first lady of State University of New York when her husband, Clifton, was chancellor of all 64 campuses.

In 1982, Michigan State University named its new multi-million dollar building the Clifton and Dolores Wharton Center for the Performing Arts in recognition of their service to the university. In 1987, SUNY named its Rockefeller Institute of Government townhouse in Albany the Clifton and Dolores Wharton Economic Research Center.

In 2016, the Whartons received the Lifetime Legacy Award from the Executive Leadership Council for their pioneering corporate roles. The last part of both Dolores and Clif’s lives was spent between New York City and the home they loved surrounded by the beautiful mountains and lake of Cooperstown.

Dolores and Clifton Wharton have two sons, Clifton 3rd, who passed away in 2000, and Bruce. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family has established the Dr. Clifton and Dolores Wharton Legacy Fund at Michigan State University. Gifts to this Legacy Fund will be invested in Wharton Center’s Endowment Fund, providing lasting support for the Wharton Center for Performing Arts. https://givingto.msu.edu/gift/index.cfm?sid=19758