| Summary: | Nonprofit executive Mahlon Puryear was born January 27, 1915, in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Puryear attended Columbian Heights High School, graduating in 1930 at age fourteen. He received a diploma from Hampton Institute in 1936 and a B.S. in 1942. Earning his M.S. degree from Columbia University Teachers College in 1948, he later studied at Colorado College and at Atlanta University. In 1951, he was hired by the National Urban League as Director of the Southern Field Division. In 1957, Puryear left to direct a Tuskegee Program in Indonesia, returning to the Urban League after a year. By 1972, he was Director of the Economic Development Department with a staff of seventy-five and a budget of more than $30 million dollars. Retiring after fifty-three years of service, Puryear lived in Baltimore where he enjoyed baking and visiting with his two daughters and grandchildren. Puryear passed away September 26, 2007, at the age of 92.
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