NASW Social Work Pioneer® Louise Frey dies at 84

Louise Frey, a professor emerita at BU’s School of Social Work, died in California on February 13 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. She was 84.

Born on April 5, 1924, Frey earned a bachelor’s degree from Queens College, City University of New York, and a master’s from Columbia University. She joined the SSW faculty in 1957 and held many roles, including professor of group work, coordinator of social work practice courses, and director of the Division of Continuing Education, the forerunner of SSW’s current Professional Education Programs, for 10 years.

Recognizing the interconnections between people’s lives and their varied cultures, Frey was instrumental in expanding SSW’s efforts in global social work practice. Along with her recruitment efforts in Southeast Asia, she was responsible for the school’s participation in the overseas program with the U.S. Army in Germany and worked in the school’s Refugee and Immigrant Training Program. She coauthored a manual on working with refugee minors for the U.S. Catholic Conference Office of Migrant and Refugee Services. She made significant contributions to the field of group work and adult learning literature, including the book Explorations in Group Work: Essays in Theory and Practice, edited with Saul Bernstein, and was honored by NASW as a Social Work Pioneer. She retired from SSW in 1991.

“She had a strong commitment to group work, and to providing excellent training to students in social work practice,” says Gail Steketee, dean of SSW.

“I know that her work here meant a great deal to her,” says Wilma Peebles-Wilkins, dean emerita of the school. “Louise often talked about group work, continuing education, and the off-campus programs at BUSSW. The School of Social Work still reaps the benefits of her legacy.”

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Obituary
John B. Turner’s NASW Social Work Pioneer® Profile
International Council on Social Welfare Tribute to John B. Turner
NASW Tribute from Dr. James Kelly and Dr. Elizabeth J. Clark

John B. Turner, Ph.D., whose career in social work spanned more than 40 years and whose efforts and leadership helped earn national recognition for the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, died on Friday, Jan. 30. He was 86.

Turner, a writer, scholar and teacher who devoted his life to community organization, social activism and social work education, had been recovering from a fall last year.

Turner joined the UNC faculty in 1974 as the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Social Work. He was named school dean in 1981 — becoming the first African-American dean at the University — and remained in the position until his retirement in 1992. Turner is largely credited for mapping out the graduate program’s road to prominence, including the construction of a $10 million building in Chapel Hill. That site — the school’s current home — still bears his name today and was the first academic building on campus to be named for an African-American; it also acknowledges the services of John A. “Jack” Tate, a Charlotte businessman and longtime social justice advocate who died late last year, and the late Charles Kuralt, an award-winning TV journalist.

Turner, who developed the school’s first development office and worked diligently to broaden the minority student presence, earned national and international honors over the course of his career.

“John was a pioneer in social work education and at UNC in so many ways,” said current social work Dean Jack Richman, who was hired by Turner in 1983 as an assistant dean. “Even through his retired years, John remained connected and involved in the school. We often met for lunch, and he offered his advice and counsel concerning the development and life of the school. I will miss Dean Turner as will everyone who had the good fortune to know and work with him.”

A native of Fort Valley, Ga., Turner studied engineering, played football and sang in a quartet at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, before deciding that he wanted to be a pilot. During World War II, he trained as one of the country’s first black aviation cadets at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama.

According to media reports, Turner, a first pilot of a B-25 bomber crew, was never deployed overseas but still spent much of his time in the air, flying practice rounds across the country. That experience allowed him to see black communities struggling and fueled his eventual passion for social work.

Turner earned his doctoral degree in social work at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and later became Case’s dean of applied social sciences. He also ventured into politics, becoming the first black city commissioner in East Cleveland.

Turner developed an illustrious career as an academic consultant, working over the years for the National Urban League as well as for international organizations, including the International Research Programs in Cairo, Egypt and as a visiting professor and consultant to the University of Minia in Egypt. He was a former member and chairman of the International Council on Social Welfare, was a charter member of the International Association of Applied Social Scientists and a member of the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine.

Over his career, Turner established himself as a “bridge builder” between government leaders and service providers, said Dennis Orthner, a UNC social work professor and an associate director for policy development and analysis at the school’s Jordan Institute for Families.

“John was an incredible scholar of and advocate for high quality and effective human services,” Orthner said. “I learned so much from him in watching him work all sides of the debate on welfare reform, child welfare, adult services and so on.” (more…)