Eldridge, Henry Madison

Impact on the world

One of seventeen mathematicians who gathered at the 1969 Joint Mathematics Meetings in New Orleans to found the National Association of Mathematicians, Eldridge represented North Carolina State University-Fort Bragg in NAM's founding roster before becoming Associate Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Fayetteville State University in 1972, where he continued teaching mathematics for years afterward, helping build the organization that became the principal professional home for Black mathematicians in the United States.

Life & background

Born December 15, 1924, in Montgomery, Alabama, Eldridge earned a BS from Alabama State College and an MA from Columbia University before completing a PhD in mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh in 1956. He taught as Professor of Mathematics at North Carolina State University-Fort Bragg from 1966 to 1972, then moved to Fayetteville State University as Associate Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, continuing to teach mathematics there for years afterward. Public biographical detail on his later life and death is limited.

Sources

1. Mathematicians of the African Diaspora (SUNY Buffalo); Fayetteville State University (Henry Eldridge Department of Mathematics & Computer Science)