James Buford, a 28-year President and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis (St. Louis, MO), known for his bow tie and for bridging tense and wide racial gaps between blacks and whites in St. Louis, has died.

"I'm a black person with an ability to get on with whites, but I'm black," he told the Post-Dispatch in a 1992 interview. "The way I learned to relate to whites and not intimidate them — maybe I can use that. I think I can shuttle back and forth and be the bridge."

Mr. Buford died early Friday at Barnes-Jewish Hospital after a brief illness, his family said.

Mr. Buford was 75.

Mr. Buford was born in 1944 in St. Louis' Grand Center, then a middle-class black neighborhood. His father was one of the city's first black policemen.

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By Chris King, The St. Louis American

James H. Buford, longtime National Urban League leader in St. Louis and nationally, died Friday, Nov. 28 at age 75.

“Jim Buford was a giant in the St. Louis community who served with distinction and honor in countless roles impacting countless people,” Michael Patrick McMillan, current president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, stated while expressing condolences for Buford’s wife, Susan Buford, and family on social media.

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Brenda McDuffie made a big announcement during the annual Buffalo Urban League Gala (Buffalo, NY) on Saturday night.

The organization's president and CEO announced that she is stepping down in 2020. She plans to still be involved.

The gala is one of the largest fundraising affairs in Western New York.

"What we do with the funds we raise this evening, a huge portion will go toward scholarship fund, which will enhance the lives of high school seniors who choose to go on to college," Moore said. "Plus some of the funds are used to help enhance some of the programs that we have at the Buffalo Urban League."

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