UNC Charlotte community mourns loss of ‘outstanding student leader’

Derrick Griffith, a UNC Charlotte alumnus who was an outstanding student leader in the early 1990s, has been identified as one of seven people killed in a train derailment in Philadelphia.

Griffith, 42, most recently was dean of student affairs and enrollment management at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, N.Y. He joined the college in 2011 and had just earned a doctorate of philosophy in urban education from the City University of New York Graduate Center.

“Derrick Griffith was an outstanding student leader in the early 1990s, when I served as provost,” said UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip L. Dubois. “Derrick was very active on campus and was committed to helping people. He had a lasting positive impact on people, and it was clear that he had a very bright future ahead of him.

“His passing is a great loss for the UNC Charlotte family,” Dubois said.

Griffith was student body president in 1991-92 and 1992-93, and he also served as student body vice president in 1990-91. He graduated in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in history.

U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-Concord, graduated from UNC Charlotte in 1996 and also was a student body president who knew Griffith. Hudson expressed his condolences and said, “Derrick was fondly known for his friendly, outgoing personality, campus leadership and passion for service to others.”

A former social studies teacher, Griffith founded the City University of New York Preparatory Transitional High School. He also was executive director of Groundwork Inc., an organization formed to support young people living in high poverty urban communities.

Griffith was a passenger Tuesday, May 12, on an Amtrak train that was headed to New York when it overturned in Philadelphia. Investigators have said the train was traveling at 106 mph before it ran off the rails along a sharp curve.

Colleagues of Griffith were quick to post tribute videos on YouTube.

Photo (lower) – Griffith (second left) participated in the groundbreaking for the Barnhardt Student Activity Center in 1993.