Clayton Cresvell Stansbury Jr. seemed to have Morgan State University in his DNA.

He attended the historically Black university in the 1950s, studying psychology and meeting his wife, Catherine La Verne Posey, there in 1952. Ten years later, he returned to the Northeast Baltimore campus to teach psychology, slowly rising in the ranks until he led the honors college and served as the university’s head marshal.

Once he retired, he was never far from university life: always there at his beloved Christmas choir concert, luncheons and scholarship banquets.

“His importance to the campus cannot be overstated,” said Edwin T. Johnson, a Morgan State alum and university historian. “He was so much more than an administrator. He was a father, he was an uncle, he was all of those things, in addition to being one of the most important administrators on campus.”

Stansbury died of natural causes on Aug. 30. He was 93 years old.

The academic was born March 20, 1932, in Havre de Grace, Maryland. He was the sixth of seven children born to Mary V. Stansbury and Clayton C. Stansbury, Sr. He grew up in a home that always took education very seriously, said his niece Erica Waters. His father started a Black parent-teacher association to advocate for his children, Waters said, and instilled in him as a young child the importance of education.

He graduated from what was then Morgan State College in 1955, got a master’s degree in general psychology from Howard University and a doctorate from the University of Maryland, College Park.

“He really was a lifelong learner,” Waters remembered. “He just loved learning so much. He loved to read and write.”

After a brief stint teaching at Howard, Stansbury rejoined Morgan State as a member of the counseling center’s staff in 1967. He quickly climbed the ranks, jumping to assistant dean in charge of the first year program. After being named chair of the psychology department, Stansbury became the university’s director of student affairs and led the honors program for 16 years.

In 1974, Stansbury began his tenure as Morgan State’s chief marshal, leading processionals at graduation and other ceremonies. He served in that role for 35 years, becoming the university’s longest-serving marshal in history, witnessing thousands of Morgan students graduate.

But while Stansbury had many titles while at Morgan State, his most prominent one, it seemed, was that of “mentor.”

Candis Williamson met Stansbury at the Epworth United Methodist Chapel in Baltimore as a high schooler. She struggled with test taking and in 1998, as a high school senior, was rejected from colleges where she applied. Stansbury saw her crying and helped her get into Morgan State’s precollege summer program.

“He told me he believed in me and saw a future for me,” she remembered. “That was big for me.”

Williamson excelled in the program and became a full time university student in the fall. Her grade point average was so high, she said, she joined the university’s honors program that spring.

“He is the reason why I got a college degree,” Carr said. “Dr. Stansbury changed my life.”

Christina Royster was already a student in Morgan State’s honors college when she met Stansbury in 1989.

“He made us feel like we were superstars and standouts,” Royster said. “Even though I was one of the students that excelled like the many who were in his honors program, that wasn’t what I was used to.”

He pushed her to apply for the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship, a competitive scholarship for students at publicly supported HBCUs and predominantly Black institutions. Royster became the first Morgan State student to be awarded the scholarship.

“That scholarship changed everything for me,” she said. “Dr. Clayton Stansbury, I can say with full confidence, changed the trajectory of my life.”

Waters, Stansbury’s niece, also attended Morgan State. She applied to colleges all over the country, but chose to stay close to home at the behest of her uncle.

“He believed that if someone could get into college, they should go to Morgan,” Waters said. “He gave everything he could to Morgan, because he felt Morgan gave him his life.”

Even at his house, Waters recalled, the walls were painted blue and orange, the university’s colors.

“After his wife, Morgan was his second love,” she said with a laugh.

Johnson, the Morgan State historian, said he wasn’t considering attending the university until Stansbury began calling his parents in the spring of 1987.

“I remember getting home from high school one afternoon and my mom said I was going to Morgan,” he said. “I don’t know what he said to her, but he convinced her that Morgan was the best place for me. And he was right.”

Last December, Johnson brought his mother to Morgan State’s Christmas choir concert, which Stansbury always attended.

Johnson and his mother ran into Stansbury, who at the time was around 92 years old.

“He remembered my mom from the 1980s and he pointed at me and said, ‘I did good getting him to Morgan,’” Johnson remembered. “After all those years, he still remembered having those conversations with my mom. But that’s the kind of person he was.”

To honor Stansbury’s impact, the university is renaming the auditorium in Martin D. Jenkins Hall after him.

“His legacy will live on at Morgan forever,” Johnson said. “We’re all trying to be what he was to us, all those years ago.”

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.