APCAA Mourns Passing Of Bro. Herman Edward Gregory Jr. / AP's Most Senior Initiate at 99

APCAA Staff / AP Historian Bro. Michael J. Ward (Fall 2013)

Alpha Rho Chapter mourns the passing of Bro. Herman Edward Gregory Jr., who entered Omega Chapter on January 24, 2026, in Cleveland, Ohio. At 99 years old, Bro. Gregory was the chapter’s most senior living initiate, a revered elder whose long life stood as a testament to steadfast commitment, brotherhood, and service.

A remembrance of Bro. Gregory from April 2025 is shared here by APCAA Historian Bro. Michael J. Ward (Fall 2013):

"Almost two years after speaking to him on a Zoom call, I finally got a chance to meet Bro. Herman Edward Gregory, Fall 1946, our oldest living AP Brother at 98 years old, in person. He’ll be 99 on June 7, 2024.I gifted him our centennial history book and got to hear more about his story going from being a Sphinxman at Kappa chapter to transferring to Morehouse. He ran track at Ohio State and was trying to break Jesse Owens’s 100m record. 'I took two steps to his one.'

As we flipped through his era in the lineage, he said 'Hey, I recognize this fella' several times. His LB Noah Wills (the first of three generations of AP Brothers), Horace Ward, Sam McKinney, and Maynard Jackson were among those he pointed out.

And it was touching to show him this picture (he’s at the bottom left, kneeling next to the sign in the group image below) and then the names of his LBs in the lineage section. As soon as he saw this, he shouted, 'My boy Eddie Jones!'Eddie Jones (bottom right, kneeling next to the sign) was his roommate, close friend, and line brother."

As part of the fraternity's "Brother's Keeper" outreach program, Bro. Gregory also attended the June 21, 2025 pivotal gathering of chapter leaders and supporters at Cleveland’s historic Olivet Institutional Baptist Church. Hosted in honor of APCAA member and civil rights icon Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr. (Fall 1955) — who pastored Olivet from 1975 to 2008 — the event marked the formal prelude to the chapter’s Second Century Scholarship Campaign.