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Professor Emeritus Ben Holman, who was the only black professor in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism in the early 1980s, died Saturday at George Washington Hospital in Washington after an extended illness. He was 76 years old.

Holman was also one of the first black journalists to become prominent at a major Chicago newspaper, and was appointed as assistant U.S. attorney general under President Richard Nixon.

And as a journalist and educator, he paved the way for black journalists in the college and in the print and broadcast fields.

“His job was always to bring people together,” said journalism dean Thomas Kunkel, who met Holman in 2001. “The most important thing that I remember about Ben was that he was a great mediator.”

Holman, who retired from the college in 2004, started his journalism career at the Chicago Daily News, as the only black journalist in town covering the civil rights movement during the 1950s. He was never afraid to tackle the tough story and stand by his word, and his courage paid off when he had to flee a mob of black Islamic radicals after he wrote an investigative series probing corruption in a then-young Nation of Islam.

In the 1960s he became NBC News’ Washington correspondent, and when Nixon was elected in 1969, he appointed Holman assistant U.S. Attorney General specializing in communications. While working for the administration, he promoted tolerance between classes and races in a national tour where he sat down and chatted with everyday citizens in 48 states.

“He didn’t believe in sitting behind a desk,” said Reese Cleghorn, an university journalism professor who joined the school as dean in 1981. “He was key because he could deal with people of all kinds.”

Soon after joining the college’s faculty in 1978, Cleghorn said, Holman became a signature on campus, rolling up everyday on motorcycle. With his personable presence and keen sense of humor, Holman was known as a leader among the faculty in the college of journalism. Often times in heated staff meetings, it would take just one quick joke from Holman to regroup the faculty, Kunkel said.

Some of Holman’s largest contributions to the college came when he started many of today’s courses in the late 1980s. He laid the foundation for the school’s first sports writing class, and was also influential in piecing together its broadcast journalism track when it was still operating at a local public access station. And in the 1990s, Holman founded seminar courses on diversity reporting and homelessness.

“He was a major reason for the rise in the prominence of this journalism school,” Kunkel said. “He was one of those people who made this school much more aware of the responsibility of journalists to all people. He was a big part of the conscience of this school, and thus his influence will continue to be felt many years after he left us.”

Kunkel said that three years after Holman’s retirement, he is still one of the most talked about professors among alumni who recalled his vivid storytelling and practical classroom advice.

And especially when Holman was the college’s only black professor between 1978 and 1983, Cleghorn said, he represented how black journalists could succeed in the field years before it became commonplace.

He helped found the campus’ chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, and served on the board of the Black Faculty and Staff Association.

Holman also came to prominence throughout the campus as the editor for the Faculty Voice, an independent faculty newspaper. And in 1980, he served as interim dean of the college for one year.

His only survivor is his sister, Lillie Holman, of New Jersey.

Services will be held for Holman tomorrow and Saturday at the New Light Baptist Church in Bloomfield, NJ. A wake will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, and the funeral will follow on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Contact reporter Ben Slivnick at slivnickdbk@gmail.com.

This story originally stated that the funeral was scheduled for 2 p.m. After the story ran, family members changed the time to 11 a.m.