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.
He also has an illegitimate child out of wedlock that less than a handful of people know about.