Huntsville, Ala. —- An educator, engineering enthusiast and administrator long considered the Father of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) died recently in Alabama.
Memorial services were held January 3 in Huntsville, Ala., for Dr. Arthur Jerome Bond, 73, who died on Sunday, December 30, 2012.
Dr. Bond, a native of Jackson, Tenn., was the founding advisor of the National Society of Black Engineers at Purdue University in 1975. From 1989 to 1992, he served as the head of the Department of Engineering at Tuskegee University. He retired as the dean of engineering school at Alabama A&M University in 2006.
Bond was a scholar, an educator and an activist in the cause of increasing black enrollment and retention in the engineering and technology disciplines. To this end, he became the founding advisor of the National Society of Black
Engineers (NSBE) at Purdue University in 1975. Dr. Bond took a very active role with his students, serving as professor, tutor, big brother, father-figure, mentor, encourager and confidant.
Dr. Bond is survived by his loving wife, Carolyn Marie Duvall Bond, two sisters, Carolyn (Walter) Reynolds, of Upland, Calif., and Allison Bond, of Indianapolis, Ind., and one brother, Julius (Sandy) Bond, of The Villages, Fla. In addition, he will be missed by a host of relatives, friends, and the hundreds of students he taught, mentored and whose lives he influenced.
Celebration of Life Services were held at St. John A.M.E. Church, 229 Church St., Huntsville, Ala., on Thursday, January 3, 2013, at 2:00 p.m.
Photo by J. Saintjones