Two members of the Harding community died over Christmas break. Harding Board of Trustees member Lundy Neely died on Dec. 21, 2021, at 73 years old. Associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences Dr. Henry North, III, died on Dec. 22, 2021, at 41 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When students gathered for chapel Jan. 18, for the first time since both men died, University President David Burks and Dean of the College of Pharmacy Jeff Mercer shared words to honor the two men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLundy loved God,\u201d Burks said. \u201cHe loved his family. He loved the church, and his grandchildren all knew that very well. He was a bold leader for Harding and a dear friend. We will miss him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mercer spoke in memory of North.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[He] was regarded by all who knew him as a gentle giant among students and colleagues,\u201d Mercer said. \u201cHe was a friend to all. He loved God with all of his being.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neely was a member of the Board of Trustees for 13 years. He was respected for his creative thinking, limitless ideas and passionate spirit. Board member Craig Cheatham said Neely will be remembered for his enthusiasm, positivity, kindness and generosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy last conversation with Lundy lasted about an hour-and-a-half,\u201d Cheatham said. \u201cMuch of that time he and I were in total agreement and basically were finishing each other\u2019s sentences. \u2026 Lundy never made disagreements personal, and our world is short on people who have that gift.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ben Neely, Neely\u2019s son and a Harding alumnus, said his dad\u2019s four loves in his life were God, his wife, family and Harding University. Ben Neely said his dad spoke about the University nonstop and sent his seven children and a majority of his grandchildren to study at Harding. Additionally, Ben Neely spoke about Neely\u2019s character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy dad was an incredibly charismatic person,\u201d Neely said. \u201cHe did not know a stranger. He was also a dreamer and visionary, which led him to be an extremely successful businessman. My dad has always been about family. He created a family mission statement that centered around God and serving others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North joined the College of Pharmacy in 2013 and heavily involved himself both in the program and in the Searcy community. North attended West Pleasure Church of Christ and was involved with 100 Black Men of Greater Little Rock, an organization that seeks to educate and mentor Black teenagers and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The College of Pharmacy hosted a memorial service for Harding faculty, staff and students to honor North. North\u2019s family also came to the service. Several College of Pharmacy faculty spoke at the service, as did other representatives from across campus. Kenneth Harris, a representative of 100 Black Men of Greater Little Rock, provided attendees with words of encouragement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHenry loved to talk to me about [social responsibility],\u201d Harris said. \u201cYou\u2019re carrying the torch. You\u2019re making the social responsibility. You\u2019re making the change. It doesn\u2019t matter where you are or where you came from. It\u2019s what you\u2019re doing right now in the area that you\u2019re in. That\u2019s what I love about Henry. He chose Arkansas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assistant dean of student affairs Jeanie Smith said North\u2019s service-mindedness is what stood out to her about North. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think what is remarkable to me about Henry\u2019s service is the way he went about providing it,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHe was not prideful. He was not loud. He was not boastful \u2026 He would make a commitment [on the admissions committee] \u2026 \u2018Get this student here, and I will help them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two members of the Harding community died over Christmas break. Harding Board of Trustees member Lundy Neely died on Dec. 21, 2021, at 73 years old. Associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences Dr. Henry North, III, died on Dec. 22, 2021, at 41 years old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15184,"featured_media":16747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15184"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16748,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16746\/revisions\/16748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}