Temple University acting president dies suddenly during memorial service

Temple University acting president JoAnne A. Epps died suddenly after falling sick at a memorial service on the college Tuesday afternoon, the varsity announced. She was once 72.

Epps was sick whilst attending the memorial service for Charles L. Blockson, a curator emeritus of the Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple, who died in June, in line with Temple University.

She skilled a “surprising episode,” Dr. Daniel del Portal said at a press conference. She was attended to by emergency service personnel and was transported to Temple University Hospital where resuscitation efforts continued, del Portal said. Epps was pronounced dead around 3:15 p.m., the school said.

“There are not any phrases that may describe the gravity and unhappiness of this loss. President Epps was once a loyal servant and good friend who represented the most productive portions of Temple,” Mitchell L. Morgan, chair on the school’s board of trustees, Ken Kaiser, senior vice president and chief operating officer and Gregory N. Mandel, senior vice president and provost, said in a letter on the school’s website.

They added, “She spent just about 40 years of her lifestyles serving this college, and it is going with out pronouncing her loss will reverberate during the group for years yet to come.”

Mandel said he and Epps became friends when he joined the school in 2007, and she was a mentor to him and for other people.

“This a sad loss, however we all know that JoAnne gave up the ghost doing one thing that she cherished,” Mandel said.

Temple University’s board of trustees voted unanimously to appoint Epps as acting president in April, according to The Temple News.

“Pledge to you, I’m going to do my utmost highest to make this position proceed at the trajectory that it’s on,” Epps mentioned, according to The Temple News. “This is a smart establishment. I’ve cherished being part of it. I’ve cherished the buddies I’ve made as I glance across the room and simply consider the circle of relatives really feel of Temple and I’m in reality venerated to take in this position and I can look ahead to operating with all of you within the yr.”