Walter D. Broadnax was born on October 21, 1944 in Star City, Arkansas, the home of his maternal grandparents.  Soon thereafter, he and his mother joined his father in their home in Hoisington, Kansas, where he lived until the age of 17.  He died on December 2, 2022, at the age of 78 with his wife, Angel, at his bedside.  For the previous ten months, he was a resident of the Nottingham Residential Health Care Facility (RHCF) in Jamesville, New York. 

Throughout his career, he alternated between executive level jobs in public service to teaching and administrative positions in some of America’s finest institutions of higher education. In 2001, Syracuse University honored him with the prestigious George Arents Award, the University’s highest alumni honor, for excellence in public service. 

Walter earned a bachelor’s degree from Washburn University in 1967; a master’s degree from the University of Kansas in 1969; and a Ph.D. from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School in 1975, and later spent a decade on the Maxwell Advisory Board. He was elected to the board of trustees of Syracuse University in 1999 and was a Life Trustee at the time of his death.

He was a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Administration and International Affairs in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Previously, he served as president of Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia.  Prior to that appointment, Walter was dean of the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. He also was professor of public policy and management in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland, where he directed the Bureau of Governmental Research.

Before joining the University of Maryland faculty, Walter served as deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; president of the Center for Governmental Research Inc. in Rochester, New York; president of the New York State Civil Service Commission; a lecturer in and director of the Innovations in Government program in the Harvard Kennedy School; a senior staff member of the Brookings Institution; principal deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; director of Children, Youth and Adult Services for the state of Kansas and a professor in the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia.

He also served in an advisory capacity to several for profit and non-profit boards including those in federal, state, and local government.

In addition to his parents, Walter and Mary Broadnax, Walter was predeceased by brothers Herbert and William Broadnax.

Walter is survived by his wife, Angel (nee Wheelock) of Fayetteville, New York, daughter, Andrea A. Broadnax-Green (Leonard) of Loxahatchee, Florida, sister-in-law Winifred W. Northcross (Wilson) of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and several nieces and nephews.  

A private service and burial will take place in Washington, D.C. A memorial service will take place at Syracuse University in early 2023. 

Those who wish to contribute to Walter’s memory may give either to the Walter D. and Angel W. Broadnax Endowed Scholarship Fund at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University or to the charity of their choice.