America’s best weekly Get to know the Men of Excellence, Class of 2022! Special Section Inside
Pittsburgh Courier NEW
www.newpittsburghcourier.com Vol. 113 No. 38 Two Sections
thenewpittsburghcourier Published Weekly $1.00
SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022
‘Representing Black excellence’ Latest cohort graduates from ‘Executive Leadership Academy’
THE ADVANCED LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE’S 2022 COHORT GRADUATING CLASS OF THE “EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY.” IT’S THE PROGRAM’S FOURTH COHORT.
by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
Watch out, Pittsburgh. The Advanced Leadership Institute just graduated another cohort of African Americans from its
highly-acclaimed “Executive Leadership Academy” program. Which means that as you look to your left, right, up or down, there could be another African American in Pittsburgh ready to take
over. “It’s not only exciting, but it’s actually inspirational to see the level of Black leadership we have in Pittsburgh,” expressed a joyous Evan Frazier, the president and CEO of
TALI. On July 22, at the Carnegie Mellon University Tepper Business School, 25 African Americans graduated from a seven-month program which included more than 100 hours of in-
struction from renowned academic and industry experts, professional coaching, and executive mentoring. It’s all in an effort to prepare Blacks who are currently in mid-level management positions for
executive positions within a company or organization, known as the “C-Suite.” Those 25 latest graduates now makes it 104 total graduates of the Executive SEE COHORT A10
A LIFE WELL LIVED Clairton community honors Colonel Kenneth E. Cook for integration efforts by Genea L. Webb For New Pittsburgh Courier
When Retired Army Colonel Kenneth E. Cook thinks about growing up on Chambers and Arch streets in the city of Clairton in the early to mid 1930s, the first word that comes to mind is, opportunity. That’s where he learned the value of hard work. “Like every town in the region at the time, Clairton was home to hundreds of steel mill workers, who spent long, hard and in some ways dangerous hours toiling for the array of steel mills,” recalled Cook, now 89, who currently resides in Silver Spring, Md. The widowed father of three graduated from Clairton High School in 1950 and sought higher education at Howard University for pharmacy school, which he graduated from in 1954. Upon graduating
and passing his boards, on the recommendation of the Dean of Pharmacy, Cook went to Raleigh, N.C. “Mrs. Hamlin was looking for a pharmacist and they recommended me. She promised me 20 percent ownership in the pharmacy business, and I accepted that. Her son was half Filipino; he went to pharmacy school, but he didn’t want to be a pharmacist. He wanted to be a farmer,” Cook recalled. That’s when the draft came calling. “I had two draft deferments being in college,” Cook said. “Shortly after that I passed the boards and I’m a registered pharmacist, and my draft deferment status ran out, so I got drafted, October 14, 1954, into the Army. I’m in Raleigh and I tell Mrs. Hamlin that I can’t accept 20 percent ownership beSEE COOK A6
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COLONEL KENNETH E. COOK, SEATED, WITH HIS FAMILY. THE CLAIRTON COMMUNITY RECOGNIZED COLONEL COOK EARLIER THIS YEAR PRIOR TO A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL GAME.