Adrienne Glore, who retired from Washington University in St. Louis in 2008 after 32 years as a beloved member of the student affairs staff, died Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, of complications related to vascular dementia at Sunrise on Clayton in Richmond Heights, Mo. She was 75.
Glore joined the university staff in 1976 as coordinator of student activities. She was promoted to associate director of student activities in 1981 and then named associate dean of students for special services and programs in 1987.
Glore was known for her commitment to students and for helping make Washington University a more welcoming and diverse community. Among her many contributions, she advised the senior class officers, the Association of Black Students, and Ashoka, the South Asian Society.
She helped promote the diversity of the university community through planning events like Cultural Celebration Weekend, Diwali and the Chinese New Year Festival (now Lunar New Year); proposing and implementing the publication Dimensions for African-American students; and organizing the W. E. B. Du Bois Awards (now the James E. McLeod Honors and Awards).
Glore’s door was always open and she readily mentored not just students but faculty and staff as well.
Glore was asked to take on additional responsibilities in 1987, shortly after the establishment of the university’s John B. Ervin Scholars Program, a merit-based scholarship for students who demonstrate academic excellence and a commitment to diversity, leadership and service.
Along with the program’s founding director, the late James E. McLeod, and Dorothy Elliott, then associate director, Glore helped plan and implement the program’s activities, including orientation and retreats.
From welcoming every Ervin Scholars class to encouraging leadership opportunities, Glore was instrumental in helping ensure the scholars had an “Ervin experience” in which they were nurtured intellectually, personally, socially and culturally during their four years at the university. She remained involved and committed to the program even after her retirement.
In 2009, Glore received the university’s Rosa L. Parks Award for her own meritorious service to the community. The award is presented at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration to people and organizations that exemplify the valor of both King and Parks.
Before coming to the university, Glore, who earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and in speech and hearing pathology from Howard University, was a speech clinician for St. Louis Public Schools and for the school district in her native Houston.
She is survived by her daughter, Gabrielle Glore of Brooklyn, N.Y., and sisters Janet Johnson, of Gaithersburg, Md., and Lynne Lyman, of Houston.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3, in Graham Chapel.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions in her memory to the John B. Ervin Endowed Scholarship. Make checks payable to Washington University, note Ervin Scholars – Adrienne Glore in the memo field, and mail to Washington University, Campus Box 1082, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, Mo., 63130. Contributions also may be made online, with the same notations, at gifts.wustl.edu.
Read more about Glore in the obituary in The St. Louis American.