In Memoriam: Richard Graham

Columns this weeks honors Richard Graham, UGA's first full-time African American faculty member, who passed away last month:

Richard M. Graham, the first full-time African-American faculty member at UGA, died May 4 at the age of 83. Graham was a former director of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, which is part of the university's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Graham took up piano at an early age and changed to the trumpet in high school. His college years were spent at the University of Kansas, where he earned a bachelor's degree in music education in 1955 and a master's degree in 1958. After completing his internship at Topeka State Hospital, he worked for three years at Logansport State Hospital in Indiana, serving a diverse client population. He then moved to Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, where he built an academic program from the ground up while completing his doctorate at KU in 1965. Graham joined the UGA faculty in 1968 where he taught music education and music therapy at the Hodgson School. He retired from the university in 2000.

Dr. Graham was and always be a major part of UGA's history. To the many students he touched as a teacher and mentor, his legacy lives on in their teaching and music therapy practices around the state and the nation. We gratefully acknolwedge his service to the university and his contributions as a scholar that built a distinguished career and serve as an important foundation for the success the Hodgson School enjoys today.