Former Wake County commissioner – and prominent African-American leader – has died

Harold Webb, a former Wake County commissioner and an architect of the school system’s controversial policy of busing students to balance diversity, died late Thursday. He was 92.

Webb was a prominent member of the local African-American leadership for decades, serving on the Board of Commissioners from 2003 until 2010, after he had a stroke. He represented District 5, which includes predominantly black neighborhoods in Southeast Raleigh.

James West, who was appointed to fill Webb’s seat and still serves on the board, said Webb was one of his closest friends.

“I’m still at a loss,” West said Friday. “He had a very charismatic leadership style. He would always say, with a big smile on his face, that he’s doing his best and trying to lead the rest. He inspired people, he had a big heart, and he blazed a lot of trails.”

When Webb returned to North Carolina after his service with the Tuskegee Airmen, he studied at North Carolina A&T University and began his career in Orange County as a teacher and administrator. Webb was then tapped to administer North Carolina’s Title I program, which aims to close racial opportunity gaps in schools.

In 1977, under former Gov. Jim Hunt, he was appointed as North Carolina’s first African-American personnel director.

“He understood how government works,” said Danny Coleman, chairman of Raleigh’s South Central Citizens Advisory Council. “He understood how to get things done, and he was a genius at it. I don’t know if there are many people like him around. That generation that he hailed from, there’s not many left in there.”

Webb pushed for busing policies in the 1970s that would expedite the integration of Wake County schools. In the late 2000s, when those policies were called into question, Webb remained an outspoken advocate of the practice.

In a 2009 interview with The News & Observer, Webb said he hoped then-President Barack Obama would inspire African-Americans to rise above a culture of poverty that he said had failed black communities.

Webb sat at a powerful roundtable at the home of fellow Raleigh leader Ralph Campbell Sr., Coleman said. It was a gathering of the city’s prominent African-Americans to discuss matters facing the black community.

“I met Webb when he first ran for county commission, and I worked on his campaign,” said former Raleigh City Council member Eugene Weeks. “He was really my mentor. He taught me how to do things. That’s what got me into politics, by listening to him.”

Weeks said Webb had been in and out of the hospital in recent years dealing with illnesses related to complications from his stroke.

“You would never know what he was going through,” Weeks said. “He had a smile on his face during his illness. Even up until last year and the first part of this year, he would make the same community meetings I would make.”

Webb is survived by a daughter and his wife of more than 50 years, Lucille Webb. The couple were inducted into Raleigh’s Hall of Fame in 2011.

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Former Wake County commissioner – and prominent African-American leader – has died."