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Children Honor Parents, Support Students with Gift to University
Members of the Black family are (front row, from left) Kris Kyser, Kyle Culbertson, Lila Burton Culbertson, Kate Culbertson Martinez, John Black, Sandy Black, Ashley Farmer Culbertson, Jack Culbertson, Elisabeth Black Culbertson; (back row, from left) Brady Culbertson, Caroline Black, Stefanie Nicholson-Black, John Louis Black, Madeleine Black, Mario Martinez, Amelie Black, Johnny Black; and babies (left to right) Eleanor Martinez, Shepherd Culbertson, Charlotte Culbertson.

A gift to the University of Mississippi doubled as a surprise to alumni Sandy and John Black, honoring their 60 years of marriage while providing tuition assistance to Ole Miss students.

John and Sandy Black

On their 60th wedding anniversary, the Blacks’ children — Elisabeth Culbertson of Flowood, Mississippi, Johnny Black of Lexington, Mississippi, and Stefanie Nicholson-Black of Denver, Colorado — announced they established a scholarship with a $60,000 gift to the university.

The John Louis Black Family Scholarship Endowment will support eligible UM students from Mississippi’s Holmes County area.

“We surprised them on the date of their anniversary with a huge poster — which they still have hanging at their house in Madison — and the initial documents from Ole Miss detailing what the gift was,” Culbertson said. “We chose $60,000 as the amount in honor of their 60 years.”

“It was a surprise, and it was just delightful!” said Sandy Black, herself a generous donor. In 2019, she made a $500,000 gift that ensured all of William Faulkner’s furniture would remain permanently on display at the Nobel Prize-winning author’s UM-owned home in Oxford, Mississippi.

Together, the couple made a $10 million gift in support of Ole Miss Athletics, which was acknowledged by the university naming the Ole Miss basketball arena in their honor: the Sandy and John Black Pavilion. Additionally, the Blacks made an $11 million gift to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the largest private gift ever received by UMMC in a single year. Since then, they also made a major gift to renovate the guest house at the chancellor’s home on the Oxford campus.

“Our parents are obviously our very first role models and were terrific! They have always demonstrated a spirit of charity in the various volunteer organizations they served in, whether that was in church, school, youth sports teams and civic organizations,” Johnny Black said.

“And every Thanksgiving, all family members take turns addressing the rest of the family and telling what they give thanks for and how they have served within their local communities,” Nicholson-Black said. “We wanted a scholarship, honoring our parents and the impact they have had on us, that would have a lasting, meaningful impact to the local Lexington, Mississippi, community.”

“We were shocked, delighted and obviously very pleased,” said John Black, a former UM Foundation board member, who earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the university in 1961 and a master’s degree in accountancy in 1962. In college, he was a Taylor Medalist and member of Omicron Delta Kappa academic honorary and Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Sandy Black attended the university and was a member of Phi Mu sorority.

The couple, who met at a fraternity party, married in 1963.

After college, John Black joined Peat Marwick, now KPMG, as a CPA in Jackson. He later founded HCM Inc., which operated 53 locations of nursing homes and assisted living facilities in seven southeastern states.

In 1981, he sold the business to Beverly Enterprises, the largest company in the field, and continued to find success as an investor both in stocks and real estate. At one time, he owned all Courthouse Racquet & Fitness locations in the Jackson area, which he later gifted to UMMC to promote wellness.

Vice Chancellor for University Development Charlotte Parks expressed gratitude for the gift.

“We are thrilled that Elisabeth, Johnny and Stefanie chose to honor their parents’ philanthropic legacy with a scholarship that will help generations of students’ attain an Ole Miss degree,” she said. “Their gift will keep on giving.”

The John Louis Black Family Scholarship Endowment is open to receive gifts from individuals and organizations. Those interested can click here or mail a check to the University of Mississippi Foundation, with the fund noted in the memo line, to 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS, 38655.

For more information, contact Charlotte Parks, vice chancellor for development, at cpparks@olemiss.edu or 662-915-3120.

By Bill Dabney/UM Foundation

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