Dear Sir,

My late wife, Gloria, and I were fortunate to have had a lifetime friendship with the late Edwena Smith. We met at the Berkeley Institute in 1944. Edwena was always very friendly and studious. We shared some wonderful times and memories together.

During my time of service on the governing body of our alma mater, she gave her support as a fundraiser for the school library, as she had served as a librarian and teacher during her return.

The late Marjorie Bean was the driving force behind the construction of the library. Edwena wanted a state-of-the-art library at Berkeley. So when my wife and I visited her in Boston, where she was studying for her master’s degree, she gave us a tour of her university.

She wanted to share her vision of a state-of-the-art library so that I could communicate her vision to the other Berkeley governors.

She was an avid member of the St Paul AME Church and a social justice trailblazer, like some of our peers — E.F. Gordon, Wycliffe Stovell, and Mr and Mrs Gerald Harvey, to name a few.

ROSS TUZO