Ralph Kennedy Frasier, One Of First Three Blacks To Attend UNC, Passes

JACKSONVILLE, FL – Atty. Ralph Kennedy Frasier, one of the first three African American undergraduate students to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), has died at age 85.  He passed away on May 8 in Jacksonville, FL, leaving behind a legacy that will continue to inspire.

Following the 1954 US Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation in public schools, Frasier, his brother LeRoy Frasier, and John Brandon, all students at Hillside High School in Durham, filed a successful lawsuit seeking admission to UNC and entered the university as freshmen in 1955, thereby opening the doors for the many African American students who followed them. Black students had been admitted to the university’s law school due to a previous court order in 1951.  

While it’s true that none of the first three African American undergraduate students at Chapel Hill graduated from the university, Ralph Kennedy Frasier’s journey didn’t end there.  After two and a half years at UNC, he made the decision to serve his country and joined the U.S. Army. Upon his return, he continued his education and earned both a bachelor’s and a law degree from what is now North Carolina Central University in Durham. This was just the beginning of a distinguished career as an attorney, a testament to his resilience and determination. 

His fight for equality is memorialized in the book “To Drink from the Well: The Struggle for Racial Equality at the Nation’s Oldest Public University.” 

Frasier went on to be a trailblazer in corporate America, becoming the first African American in a management position at Wachovia Bank and, as one of the founding members of the Wachovia Legal Department, serving Wachovia for over ten years in various legal capacities, including Legal Counsel, Assistant Secretary, Assistant Vice President, and Vice President. In 1975, Huntington Bancshares Incorporated recruited Ralph to move to Columbus, Ohio, where he enjoyed an extraordinary career spanning more than 30 years as General Counsel, Senior Counsel, Executive Vice President, and Director of Diversified Financial Institution. 

Upon retiring from Huntington in 1998, Frasier joined the Columbus, Ohio office of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, L.L.P., a 300-member law firm, as Of Counsel, where he further solidified his reputation as a visionary leader, championing initiatives to promote diversity and corporate governance until his retirement in 2005.

From 2002 until 2003, Frasier also served as Of Counsel to Frasier & Alston, P.A., a Durham, North Carolina-based law firm established by his son, Ralph K. Frasier, Jr., and daughter, Kären Denise Frasier (Alston), and subsequently, to his son Ralph’s firm, Frasier & Griffin, L.L.C. until 2005.

A staunch supporter of his alma mater, in 1995, Ralph and his brother, LeRoy, Jr., established The Frasier Endowed Scholarship at NCCU in honor of their mother, Kathryn O. Kennedy Frasier (1928 NCCU graduate).  In 2006, Frasier co-founded and has been a sponsor of The Frasier Kennedy Spaulding Fund for Business Etiquette in the NCCU School of Law.

Ralph is survived by his wife of 42 years, Jeannine Marie Quick-Frasier; his children, Kären Denise Frasier, Gail Spaulding Cox, Ralph Kennedy Frasier, Jr., Keith Lowery Frasier, Marie Kennedy-Frasier Coleman, and Rochelle Doar Frasier; two sisters-in-law and one brother-in-law; a niece and nephew; 14 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, May 18, in Columbus, OH. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in Ralph’s name. His passing leaves a void in the hearts of all who knew him, even as his legacy of resilience, integrity, and service continues to inspire generations to come.