Lives of Consequence
Garry A. Mendez Jr. Ph.D.,'58, P'96, L.H.D.'18
Author, Public Scholar, Community Activist
Using culture and value-based leadership, Garry Mendez Jr. ’58, P’96 spent his more than 40-year career addressing issues disproportionately and adversely impacting African-American families and communities.
Mendez — an expert on the intersection of crime, incarceration and public policy, and their effects on black communities — served as director of the National Urban League’s Administration of Justice in New York City, where he developed the organization’s Crime Prevention programs. From 1986 to 1988, he was a National Institute of Justice Fellow. In 1989, he founded the National Trust for the Development of African American Men, an organization committed to “restoring the values, dignity and vibrant culture in African American communities.”
Funded by foundations, government grants and private donations, the Trust is building a coalition of groups around the country to provide mentors and counselors for incarcerated men and their families. The Trust philosophy is that to truly repay their debts to society, prisoners must start with repairing their own lives, supporting their families and serving their communities. Men who participate in Mendez’s classes are expected to become messengers of the Trust's value-based leadership philosophy in and out of prison.
At the time of his death in 2019, Mendez served as the Trust’s executive director, as well as a board member of Brownsville Think Tank Matters, a community service and youth empowerment nonprofit in Brooklyn. Formerly a clinical associate professor at Stony Brook University, he also worked with the Embassy of Cape Verde and its government, assisting men deported back to the country after having spent most of their lives in the United States.
At Hobart, Mendez majored in sociology and played on the football and basketball teams, lettering in both sports. He earned a master’s degree from the Bank Street College of Education in New York City and a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Michigan.
A dedicated alumnus, Mendez was a longtime supporter of the Statesmen Athletic Association. He has served as volunteer for Reunion and for the Salisbury Center for Career, Experiential and Professional Education. In 1989, he was inducted into the Statesmen Hall of Fame and in 1996 received the Hobart College Alumni Association’s highest honor, the Hobart Medal of Excellence. For his advocacy for the dignity of all people, his commitment to education and research as tools for social change, and his unyielding belief in the power of redemption, Hobart and William Smith awarded Mendez an honorary doctorate in 2018.