1950

Tuskegee Airman Earns Cornell MBA

Wilbur Parker ’50, MBA ’50, a World War II veteran and U.S. Army Air Corps Tuskegee Airman, became the first Black Cornell MBA graduate. Throughout his career, Parker worked to make a difference by combating racial injustice and helping others. In 1954 he became the first Black CPA in the state of New Jersey; in 1962 he broke ground as Newark’s first Black budget director; and in 1970 he became the first Black secretary of Newark’s Board of Education.