‘She was legend’ — Duke professor, physician and activist Brenda Armstrong dies at 69

Duke University’s Dr. Brenda Armstrong died at age 69 on Sunday, leaving a long legacy of advocacy, inclusion and service.

A part of Duke’s fabric since she was an undergraduate, Armstrong’s most recent roles were as a professor in the Department of Pediatrics and as senior associate dean for student diversity, recruitment and retention at Duke’s School of Medicine, according to her university profile. She also served the School of Medicine for more than 20 years as associate dean for admission, Duke Today wrote.

“During Armstrong’s tenure, she worked with school leaders and at the national level to recruit and attract the very best classes of medical students in the nation to Duke University and is credited for recruiting the most diverse classes in the school’s history,” Duke Today wrote.

Armstrong was the second African-American woman in the United States to become a board-certified pediatric cardiologist, according to Duke Today. She was among the first African-American students to attend Duke in the ’60s, during the first years the university functioned as a desegregated institution, Duke Today wrote.

As a Duke student, Armstrong was a member of the Afro-American Society, which organized the Allen Building Takeover in 1969, the day when 60 African-American students protested the racial climate on campus by barricading themselves on the first floor inside the university’s main administration building. The organization demanded an African-American studies department, a black student union and additional enrollment and financial support for black students, according to Duke’s archives.

“Although the living arrangements at Duke were segregated by gender, with female students housed exclusively on East Campus, Armstrong noted that being a racial minority (only one of 20 African American students in her class) defined her experience as a student much more so than her identity as a woman,” wrote the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke.

“Armstrong explained that when the African American student community would ‘speak up [about instances of discrimination] we were often met with tremendous amounts of anger.’”

Maureen Cullins, who is now the co-director of the multicultural resource center for Duke’s School of Medicine, befriended Armstrong when Cullins began working in the student affairs office at Duke in 1986. Before that, Cullins knew of Armstrong, who graduated from Duke a few years ahead of her.

“By the time I got there, she was legend,” Cullins said.

“There had been the Allen Building Takeover and a great many people held her in very high regard. The early to mid-70s were still a difficult time to be at Duke if you were a student of color. She was just one of the alumni who was [among] a handful of people who had come before us, who were just heroes to us. She, W.C. Turner and others were people who we all knew of and aspired to be as excellent and as true to the justice issues, as she was.”

Armstrong earned a B.A at Duke in 1970 and an M.D. at St. Louis University in 1974.

In the medical community, she may have been known as “Dr. Armstrong,” but her track athletes with the Durham Striders, a track and cross country club, knew her as “Coach Doc.” She was the vice president of the Durham Striders and served the organization for more than 37 years as the head coach for the 12-year-old age group and for the cross country and indoor track teams.

Frank Davis, one of the three founders of Durham Striders, said Armstrong started giving the athletes medical physicals, then eventually started coaching them.

“[The kids] knew we were calling her ‘Doc.’ And way back then, I guess the kids probably didn’t know she was a real doctor. They were just calling her ‘Coach Doc.’ That just kind of stuck. ‘Coach Doc,’” Davis said.

Armstrong a few weeks ago was still traveling with her athletes to cross country competitions, Davis said.

Davis said some of the athletes in the program are the children of former athletes who Armstrong coached.

“She loved those little kids. Those were her babies. She’s always been that way,” Davis said.

Duke said memorial services will be announced later.

This story was originally published October 8, 2018 at 4:54 PM.