Morgan Maxwell Jr.

Morgan was born Okmulgee, Okla. on Aug. 25, 1928 to a family of educators who moved to Tucson when his father, Morgan Maxwell Sr., became principal in 1940 of Dunbar, a segregated TUSD school. His mother, Kathryn, was the only Black teacher in the Marana School District who regularly visited the cotton fields, urging families to enroll their children. Morgan’s father, the namesake of Maxwell K-8 School, helped convinced TUSD to desegregate its schools three years before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned school segregation.

Growing up in Tucson, Morgan remembered a culturally rich Black community, where visiting Black dignitaries stayed with local families due to hotel discrimination.

Morgan graduated in 1945 from Tucson High School, which inducted him into the Hall of Fame in 2004. While traveling with the school football team, Morgan was denied lunch service at the Gadsden Hotel in Douglas. Coach Rollin Gridley and the team left the hotel in protest, opting for a park picnic instead. Tucson High beat Douglas.

While studying at the University of Arizona, Morgan led the way in desegregating the UA lunch room. In 1947, fellow students, Morris and Stewart Udall, walked into the dining hall with Morgan, insisting that he be served. Morgan earned a finance degree from the UA in 1949 and an M.B.A. in finance from USC in 1955 after serving two years in the U.S. Army.

He studied at NYU and taught at historically Black colleges before returning in 1961 to Tucson, where he started a real-estate appraising business. He was the first Black Arizonan approved as a fee appraiser for the VA and FHA and was appointed deputy state treasurer in 1967.

A leader in the local Civil Rights movement, Morgan co-founded the Tucson chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality. He served as chairman of the state Civil Rights Commission under two governors and was a lifetime member of the NAACP. After retiring, he was treasurer of the Dunbar Coalition, which restored the Dunbar School into a cultural center. He also was a member of the Southern Arizona chapter of the National Buffalo Soldiers Ninth and Tenth Calvary Association.

Morgan started the Tucson chapter of the National Stuttering Association and conducted workshops across the country to aid children and adults. He was a board member of the Little Chapel of All Nations and served as an Arizona Historical Society docent.

Morgan was preceded in death by his parents; first wife, Angela; and stepson, Donald Figarelli. He is survived by his wife, Ingrid; sons, Morgan Maxwell III (Michelle Vaughn) and Martin Maxwell (Paula Schuh) and three grandchildren. Morgan and Ingrid enjoyed traveling to many parts of the world together.

The family will hold a private service, followed by a memorial at a later date. Donations in Morgan’s memory can be made to the Dunbar Coalition or Casa de la Luz Hospice. Arrangements by FUNERARIA DEL ANGEL TUCSON.