88.9 KETR has learned through A&M-Commerce professor Dr. LaVelle Hendricks that former Commerce mayor, councilmember, and the first African American administrator at ETSU, Ivory Moore, Sr., has died at the age of 90.
According to Hendricks, a message was received this morning from Deacon Harry Turner at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Commerce. The news was confirmed with Moore's son Donnie Brooks, who is in Dallas with Linnie Wilson Moore, Ivory Moore's wife.
Ivory Moore, Sr. served as the first African American administrator at ETSU, now A&M-Commerce. In 1972 Moore became the Director of Minority Affairs at ETSU where he wrote many successful grants that established programs supporting disadvantaged, minority and first generation students, including Upward Bound. Mr. Moore was also instrumental in bringing Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity to the ETSU campus. While in Commerce, Moore became an extremely active member within the community, serving as a deacon at Mt. Moriah Temple Baptist Church, the first African American citizen elected to the city council, and the city’s first African American mayor. Before coming to Commerce, Moore served as principal and coach in Wichita Falls, Texas high schools, taught at Paris Junior College, Colbert, Oklahoma and Atoka, Oklahoma. Mr. Moore served on various Texas state boards under governors Bill Clements, Mark White, and Ann Richards, Vice President on the state board of NAACP, and Lt. Governor of the Texas-Oklahoma District of Kiwanis Clubs. He and his wife have been residents of Commerce, Texas.
Also according to Hendricks, funeral arrangements are pending.
