On the recordJanuary 26, 1994
I rise today in honor of the life and work of Dr. Richard Moore who died on January 2, 1994, at the age of 88. Dr. Moore was the third president of Bethune Cookman College in Daytona Beach, FL, which is in my district. Bethune Cookman College was founded in 1904, by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune to serve the needs of the African-American community in Florida. Dr. Moore was born on November 20, 1906, in Quincy, FL. He earned his bachelors degree from Knoxville College in 1932, and a masters degree from Atlanta University in 1944. Early in his distinguished career, Dr. Moore became the first African-American to serve as the Florida Department of Education's State supervisor of black secondary schools, a position previously held only by whites. He held this post until Bethune Cookman lured him to Daytona Beach. Dr. Moore served as president of the college from 1947 to 1975. During his tenure, Bethune Cookman became fully accredited, full time enrollment increased by more than 1,000 students, and he more than tripled the size of the school's endowment fund. Dr. Moore inspired the lives of thousands of African-American students and an entire community. He considered his greatest achievement as providing educational opportunities for young men and women. Dr. Moore once said: "I have the responsibility to myself, my family, my country, and my God to so live as to make this world a better place by my having lived here." He lived by these words.
