Rev. Earl A. Neil ’57 passed away March 11, 2024. He was a Carleton trustee for many years (starting in 1971) and the second-ever African American student to graduate from Carleton. Rev. Neil marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Montgomery, was a prominent supporter of the Black Panther Party, and worked in South Africa with Desmond Tutu to end apartheid.
Read Rev. Neil’s profile in the Carleton Voice. Obituary forthcoming.
Comments
Was lucky enough to talk with him when I was a student in the early 90s. One of the most quietly impressive people I’ve ever met.
Rev Earl Neil was a tremendous mentor and friend, starting during my time as a young alumni trustee in 1992. I remember having lunch at his office in New York, where he told me a story about the importance of the leader’s chair. “This chair I’m sitting in, is set the way I see fit, turned toward the window to my liking. Someone will come along later and turn this chair to suit their view and their way of doing things. But right now, this chair suits me.”
Rev Earl Neil was a generous friend to me and to the Carleton Chapel, preaching at numerous Martin Luther King or Black History Month Chapel services (including a few years ago via Zoom from South Africa), and stopping by to talk when he was on campus for Trustee meetings. I miss his thoughtful, engaged, and kind presence in our world right now. His strong support for justice and social change kept him involved in some of the most important issues of his time, from working with the Black Panthers in Oakland to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. I am heartened to see that the new Black House on campus will be named after Rev Earl Neil. In deep gratitude for Earl's profound life and ministry.
Earl was a role model for African American students like me who were on campus when there were few of us. I met him in person when he was a parish priest here in Washington. But I really got to know him during a Carleton study tour of South Africa shortly after he retired there. He provided great insights from his time working in the country with some of the South African leaders for justice like Desmond Tutu. It was a very special trip with the opportunity to see both his passionate sense of justice and his keen sense of humor. I was very grateful for the opportunity to get to know him better then. My husband and I were lucky enough to have lunch with him and his wife Angela on another trip to Southern Africa some years later. He was still providing keen insights on the issues of the day and still looking toward a more just day both there and here in the US.
Hello people reading this thread,
For a school project, my group is researching the Black Panther Party's Free Breakfast Program. We learned about the Reverend's great work on this program and we are deeply sad about his passing. If you are reading this thread and see this comment and know anything about him and what he did, please reply.
Thank you.
It was a pleasure to discover this page a little over a year after my father, Earl Neil, passed away, and I was deeply touched by the kind words everyone shared about him.
I extend my sincere gratitude to all of you for the love and respect you demonstrated towards him.
He is profoundly missed, yet his memory will forever be cherished.