The death of activist and Black economic development leader Andrea Lynette Harris, 72, last week, co-founder of the nonprofit N.C. Institute of Minority Economic Development (aka “The Institute”) came as a shock to those who knew, loved and respected her.

“Ms. Harris was a counselor, friend, mother, sister and leader to many, well-beyond her birth family,” said Kevin J. Price, current president/CEO of The Institute.

Upon word of her passing, condolences from across the state flooded in, like from her alma mater, Bennett College, where she served as a trustee, Yvonne Lewis Holley, Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor, U.S. Rep. David Price (D-NC-4), Former Durham Mayor Bill Bell, U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC-1), the N.C. Black Alliance, and so many others.

It was Sept. 10, 2018, when Andrea Harris wrote Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, then the president of the North Carolina Council of Churches, petitioning him to oppose gentrification in a certain section in Durham, where Black families were losing their homes to Whites who were doing little to be considerate of the families they had just displaced.

In lieu of flowers, the Harris family asks a donation to Bennett College be made in memory of Andrea Harris: Bennett College, Attn: Institutional Advancement, 900 E. Washington Street; Greensboro, N.C. 27401