Gorham L. Black, Jr.

Colonel Gorham L. Black, Jr. gained extensive administrative experience during a 27-year Army career. Enlisting in 1941 as a Private and retiring in 1968 as a Colonel, he served as Chief, Personnel Services Division, in the Office of the Deputy Chief for Personnel, Pentagon, Washington, D.C. In that position, he had world-wide responsibility for morale and welfare activities affecting Army personnel.  He also supervised the Army Welfare Fund with assets totalling $40 million. Black saw combat duty in World War II and Korea and received many decorations. | Some of  his assignments include Assistant PMS&T N.C. State College; Bn S-3, 82nd Abn Div, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Regiment XO, 11th Abn Div, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Bn CO, 2nd Infantry Division, Korea;  Chief, 3rd Army Operations Branch, Fort McPherson, Georgia; Chief, Joint Arms Branch, Brazil; Chief, D&M branch, DCSUTR, USCONARC. | Born in Chicago, Black attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. He was graduated in 1960 under the Army Bootstrap program from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a degree in business administration and has done graduate work in personnel administration. | Recognition’s include the Philadelphia Tribune Community Achievement Award; the Legion of Honor of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains, Philadelphia; the Summit Award IV of Green Thumb, Inc., and Frontiers International Award for community service. Among Black’s many professional and civic leadership positions, he is a member of the 1981 National White House Conference on Aging Advisory Committee; the Board of Directors of the National Association of State Units on Aging (NASUA), and is their representative for Federal Region III of the Administration on Aging (AoA); a member of the Board of Directors of the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc.; a member of the NAACP; vice-president of Frontiers International; a member of the National HomeCaring Council; a member of the vestry of Messiah Lutheran Church of Harrisburg and is active in other civic, fraternal and religious organizations. | Colonel Black has the distinction of serving as the first Secretary of Pennsylvania’s new Department of Aging which was established by legislative act on 1 January 1979 and commenced operations on 1 July 1979. | Black brought extensive administrative experience and an outstanding record of community involvement to the newly-formed cabinet post, created to improve the delivery and effectiveness of services and programs for Pennsylvania’s two million older persons. | Black served from 1971 to 1977 as Director of Region III of HEW, a position in which he had responsibility for administering educational and welfare assistance programs exceeding $10 billion in cost annually in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. He supervised more than 8,000 employees. In 1973-74, he served by presidential appointment as Chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Federal Regional Council, a position in which he was responsible for coordinating the planning and policy activities of nine federal grant-making agencies within Federal Region III. | Black has considerable administrative experience in the private sector. From 1968 to 1971, he was Vice-President for the Community and School Food Services Division of ARA Services, Inc. In that position, he established and managed the company’s program for providing lunches to the disadvantaged, elderly and school populations through participation in federally-assisted food programs. Black also served as management consultant to a number of clients in the federal, educational and business sectors, while operating his own management company, GLB, Inc.