From Cheltenham to Temple and all stops in between, JoAnne A. Epps made people feel ‘special, important, and seen’

JoAnne A. Epps was on the move again. It was March, and the longtime Temple University law professor, former provost, and onetime dean of the Beasley School of Law was set to retire as senior adviser to the university president.

The plan for this autumn was to focus more on her roots in the classroom and go even deeper in showing young people at Temple how to get involved and make a difference in the world. Teaching was certainly one of her strengths, and she liked working with students more than anything.

Then the board of trustees at Temple called. President Jason Wingard had resigned, and they needed her to stay involved and make even more of a difference. How could she resist? So she was elevated to acting president on April 11.

“She never said, ‘No,’” said longtime friend and colleague Bobbi Liebenberg. “Never. She always put everyone and everything ahead of herself. Always.”

Indeed, President Epps spent her life answering the calls of her conscience, family and friends, and Temple. Raised in Cheltenham and employed as professor and administrator at Temple for nearly four decades, she used an endearing blend of passion, humor, empathy, energy, and intelligence to address complex situations that needed special care.

Yes, she was an expert on the law and academic administration. But her passion was people, especially women of color, their relationships and opportunities, and how she could help them advance social justice and equality. “Too often it doesn’t even occur to women that they can run the world,” she told S.J. Magazine in 2014.

“Having role models like JoAnne is so wonderful for us, especially when there aren’t very many of us,” said friend and colleague Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon. “She took people under her wing and made them feel special, important, and seen.”

» READ MORE: Temple’s acting president, JoAnne A. Epps, has died after falling ill on stage at university event

President Epps died Tuesday, Sept. 19, at Temple University Hospital after falling ill during a memorial service on campus for historian Charles L. Blockson, her cause of death still undisclosed. She was 72.

On Wednesday, the board decided to remove the “acting” from her title, giving her a place in university history as one of its presidents.

Since then, countless colleagues, students, politicians, civic leaders, and others from around the world have shared stories of their ties to President Epps. She was their mentor and mother figure, best friend and sister they never had, influencer and favorite professor.

“She touched so many people in so many different ways,” said longtime friend and colleague Stephanie Resnick. A former student said in an online tribute: “She is one of the few people I have never heard anyone say anything negative about.”

Many anecdotes note her humility and humor, dedication to students, and mindfulness of the wide-ranging problems with which her Temple community grappled. She even made time for interviews by local seventh-grade journalists.

She was a role model for Black women of all professions and the first to serve as Temple president. Her name was on a list of considerations for U.S. Supreme Court Justice by President Barack Obama, and Joanna McClinton, speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, praised her for “championing women and people of color in the legal profession and inspiring a generation of leaders.”

She was a named one of the 100 most influential Black lawyers in the country by several publications and won the 2014 Justice Sonia Sotomayor Diversity Award from the Philadelphia Bar Association. “JoAnne Epps was a pillar of strength, inspiration, and compassion,” Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said online. “Her legacy will forever be etched in the hearts of those whose lives she touched.”

President Epps joined Temple as a law professor in 1985. She was dean of the law school from 2008 to 2016 and provost from 2016 to 2021. She had been serving as senior adviser to Wingard and took over when he resigned in March.

Her professional record is extensive. She evaluated U.S. Supreme Court nominations for the National Association of Women Lawyers and served on numerous task forces and committees that studied diversity, bias, international law, and other important legal and academic issues.

» READ MORE: Hundreds gather to remember Temple’s JoAnne A. Epps during Temple vigil: ‘We are her legacy’

She was a member of dozens of legal, civic, and social organizations, and served as chair on both the Philadelphia Police Oversight Board, and the Mayor’s Task Force on Police Discipline. In 2012, Gov. Tom Corbett named her a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania.

Collaboration and open-mindedness were her mottos. City Councilmember Kendra Brooks said she helped “bring stability and hope” to Temple.

Her long list of awards and honors includes the 2009 Wiley A. Branton Award for “deep and abiding commitment to civil rights and economic justice advocacy” from the National Bar Association. She was an inaugural member of The Inquirer’s Philadelphia Business Hall of Fame in 2016, and the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia created it own annual JoAnne Epps Award in 2017.

She lectured in Japan, China, Africa, and elsewhere, published hundreds of scholarly papers and book chapters, and coauthored 100 Vignettes for Improving Trial Evidence Skills in 2005 and 12 Secrets of Persuasive Arguments in 2010.

She plugged in to audio books on commutes between Temple and her home in rural South Jersey. Friends at Temple called her the “grammar police” because she was so exacting in her own reading and writing. “She loved words,” said Stephen Orbanek, director of communications at Temple.

Away from work but no less dear to her, she was a member of the Old Bags Club, Bad Ass Book Club, and Ladies Night Out Club. Resnick said she and Liebenberg often cajoled President Epps to misbehave a bit at their club meetings and various outings.

But she never did. For President Epps, fun was just being together. “She was our voice of reason,” Resnick said.

A cheerleader at Cheltenham High School in the 1960s, President Epps was a longtime season ticket holder at Temple football games. She showed up at tailgate parties at Rutgers in September, followed the local pro teams closely, and even threw out the first pitch at the Phillies home game on Aug. 23.

» READ MORE: The community reacts to the death of JoAnne A. Epps, acting president of Temple University

She served as Temple’s faculty athletic representative for more than a decade. “You wanted to be her friend,” Williams-Witherspoon said. “She made it easy.”

Born May 28, 1951, JoAnne Adrienne Epps grew up among an active Jewish community in Cheltenham and, although not Jewish, spoke Yiddish almost as well as her neighbors did. Later, as an adult, she knew all the Jewish holidays and thoroughly enjoyed bagels and lox at planning meetings.

She traveled south with her parents to visit her grandmother when she was young and never forgot that they had to stop first in Delaware for rest and relief because they were not allowed to do so at places farther down the road. Her mother wanted to be a doctor, but a high school counselor scoffed at the idea.

“So she encouraged me to dream big,” President Epps said in a 2013 interview with the Trinity Reporter.

Her mother eventually worked as a secretary at Temple, and President Epps got a gig as a 16-year-old cashier at the university bookstore. She graduated high school in 1969, was part of the first coeducational class at Trinity College in Connecticut, and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1973.

She considered a career as a secretary, too. But an observant dean at Trinity suggested law school, and she was one of 40 women and 10 Black students to receive a law degree at Yale in 1976.

She spent four years in Los Angeles as a deputy city attorney and returned to Philadelphia in 1980 as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She married L. Harrison Jay, former director of community partnerships at Temple, and they lived in Shamong, Burlington County.

President Epps was close to her many extended relatives. She liked to shop, attend Broadway shows with friends, and talk sports over a glass of wine.

Her favorite law TV show was The Practice. People remembered her broad smile.

» READ MORE: Temple’s acting president, JoAnne Epps, has thoughts (and concerns) about college sports

She cared for her husband at home and ended many of her personal phone calls by saying, “I love you.”

“You know some people who are so special you can’t even find words to express it?” Resnick said. “She was one of those.”

In addition to her husband, President Epps is survived by other relatives.

Viewings are scheduled for 1 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, and 8 to 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 29, at the Liacouras Center, 1776 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19122. A celebration of her life is to be held Friday, Sept. 29, at 10 a.m. at the Liacouras Center.

Donations in her name may be made to the JoAnne A. Epps Memorial Funds at Temple University, Conwell Hall, 7th Floor, 1801 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19122.