Warren Ulysses Curtis

Warren Ulysses Curtis, the beloved only son and youngest child of the late Catherine (Williams) Curtis and the late Ulysses Curtis of Toronto, Canada died in his home on Friday, November 17, 2017. Warren was unmarried with no children, and was 61 years old when he died of natural causes. Although he had moved to Albion less than a year ago, he was a well-known and highly respected member of the community: a member of the Macedonia Baptist Church where he was a talented member of the choir, and an active member of the local branch of the NAACP. He was also an active member of the Detroit chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

His early education years were in the Canadian public schools where his family lived, but he preferred to pursue his higher education in Michigan where many members of his paternal family lived. Among his outstanding educational achievements are as follows: in 1971 the Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern Michigan University where he majored in teaching children with various types of learning disabilities; then moving from teaching to the legal profession, he earned the Doctor of Law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 1994, two years later the Masters Degree in Labor Law from the Wayne University School of Law. At the time of his death he was in the final phase of earning a PhD degree in Educational Administration.

His professional work was in the fields of both teaching and law. He taught in the school systems of Detroit, Ann Arbor, and in Toronto, Canada. For ten years he was one of the directors for the Michigan Education Association with responsibilities for negotiating contracts with labor unions and local school boards, and in arbitration hearings concerning termination of employment, and of devising training programs for various jobs.

Warren’s father Ulysses passed away in 2013 and his mother Catherine passed away in 2016. Immediate family members are two aunts Gertrude Barting and Essie Curtis and an uncle Dr James Curtis, all in Albion, and two sisters Carol Clarke and Sylvia Alexis in the Toronto area, and another sister Rosie Chatman in Mogadore, Ohio, as well as nieces and nephews and cousins both in Canada and the United States.

Funeral Service will be Saturday, December 2, 2017 at 12:00PM at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, 1010 Chauncey St., Albion, MI with Pastor Bobby McKenzie officiating with family hour starting one hour prior to service at 11 AM. Interment will follow at Riverside Cemetery, Albion.