It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Dr. Marie V. McDemmond, Norfolk State University’s third President, who led the University from 1997‒2005.
Dr. McDemmond was a groundbreaker and a history maker. She achieved many “firsts” during her lifetime, including becoming the first African American woman to lead a four-year public higher education institution in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the first woman to lead Norfolk State University.
Dr. McDemmond was a visionary who brought advanced technology to the University in the form of the institutional website and internet access. She visualized a research hub originating on 25 acres at the intersection of Brambleton and Park Avenues and secured funding for the construction of what was initially known as the RISE (Research Innovations to Support Empowerment) Center. The research hub with its clean room among other research laboratories now fittingly bears her name as the Marie V. McDemmond Center for Applied Research. Dr. McDemmond also became the first person in the University’s history to make a donation of $1 million.
She was a true leader and pioneer whose imprint on Norfolk State will last in perpetuity.
President Javaune Adams-Gaston speaks on the passing of Dr. Marie V. McDemmond