Horatio Viscount "Berky" Nelson, Class of 1957

Berky Nelson was a state champion in track during his school days in Oxford, and he has been chasing excellence throughout his life. After graduating from West Chester University, he went on to earn a masters and a Ph.D. in history at the University of Pennsylvania, and he has specialized in studying the development of Philadelphia’s black communities.

Dr. Nelson has had a long and distinguished career at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he currently directs the Center for Student Programming. This job draws upon his skills as a tactician and a diplomat, requiring him to monitor student demonstrations against recruiting by the CIA, moderate panel discussions on lynching during Black History Month, and advising Muslim student groups in the aftermath of 9/11.

In 2003, Dr. Nelson published The Rise and Fall of Modern Black Leadership: Chronicle of a Twentieth Century Tragedy, which presented his analysis of the shortcomings of Black American leaders in the 1900’s. Always an educator as well as a historian, Dr. Nelson sees his writing as a tool for personal and social improvement.

As he told UCLA’s Daily Bruin, “as a historian, my job is to talk about the past, and I am a firm believer that if people are enlightened, they can make steps to engage in some kind of constructive action.”

—John Bradley

Mr. Nelson passed away at age 76 on October 5, 2015