“He was resolutely an old-fashioned integrationist,” Lewis says. “He was very proud of Harvard, very proud of his associations with Harvard. He wanted what Harvard had to offer to be open to people like him and others.”

Epps was also given the responsibility for dealing with student groups when Harvard and Radcliffe merged completely in 1977.

“He decided everything had to be open to everyone,” says Lewis, explaining that Epps decided that final clubs would no longer be a part of the University after refusing to accept women.

“He would sometimes take a long time to come down on something like that, but when he decided ... he was always clear and firm. He was a very principled person,” Lewis says.

FROM SOUTH TO NORTH

Epps was born in Lake Charles, La., where Jim Crow laws segregating whites and blacks were predominant. Despite the inherent disadvantages of being black in the Deep South, Epps’ family provided him with opportunities. His parents were local business owners and school teachers.

Still, Josiah Epps says that his father did not talk much about his early life.

“He was very happy with the life he made here and had very mixed feelings about growing up in Lake Charles, La., as a black man,” says Josiah Epps, noting that as a child his father’s home was near the beach, but racial segregation required the family to travel more than 300 miles to swim in the water.

After moving north, Epps was accepted into the Harvard community and became an icon, recognizable to people across Boston.

“The minute I meet anybody in the Boston area, they say, ‘Epps, are you related to Archie Epps?’” says Valerie Epps. “He just was like a semi-celebrity.”

Josiah Epps says that this celebrity status resonated with people of all kinds.

“I can talk to professors and deans who tell me how great he was and then talk to security guards and maintenance workers who have the same thing to say about him,” he says.

When the Harvard Foundation began its project to introduce diversity into Harvard’s collection of painted portraits, Epps was one of the first to be honored with a portrait that now hangs in University Hall.

“I’m extremely proud that it’s there and in that building. It’s really about the longevity of Harvard,” Josiah Epps says. “Harvard’s been around 400 years and in another 400 years that portrait will still be around.”

—Staff writer Justin C. Worland can be reached at jworland@college.harvard.edu.