Obituary: Former Urban League Leader James Buford Remembered as ‘Giant in Community’
Date Posted: December 6, 2019
Posted In: Discussion,
From the St. Louis American: James H. Buford, longtime National Urban League leader in St. Louis and nationally, transitioned at 2:17 a.m. Friday, November 28 at age 75 after a brief illness.
“Jim Buford was a giant in the St. Louis community who served with distinction and honor in countless roles impacting countless people,” Michael Patrick McMillan, current president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, stated while expressing condolences for Buford’s wife, Susan Buford, and family on social media.
“He was CEO of St. Louis for 28 years, a National Urban League board member twice and president of the Association of Executives. He was also the first CEO to receive a 5 Star Rating of any affiliate in the country.”Current National Urban League President Marc Morial frequently refers to the St. Louis affiliate as the “flagship,” a claim first made when Buford was at the helm.
“Thanks to Jim’s leadership, the St. Louis affiliate is seen as the model for others to follow,” Stephen C. Jones, then-immediate past chair of the Urban League Board of Directors, said when Buford retired in 2013.
Virvus Jones, former St. Louis comptroller, knew Buford from his youth in North St. Louis.
“Jim Buford transformed the St. Louis Urban League. He brought a level of political savvy to the agency,” Virvus Jones told The American.
“He used that political savvy to provide a voice for the underserved. He was above all a firm believer that poverty was the root of most of the problems that faced the black community.”
Buford felt so deeply that poverty was the source of the problems of his community that he would privately express despair that the Urban League in his city had flourished.