| Hettie Simmons Love | |
 | |
| Birth: | 29 October 1922 Jacksonville, Florida, USA |
| Death: | 14 July 2023 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Age: | 100 years, 258 days |
| Country: |  USA
|
| Centenarian | |
Hettie Simmons Love (29 October 1922 – 14 July 2023) was an American centenarian who was one of the first African-Americans to earn a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from any Ivy League University. She graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947.
Biography[]
Born in Jacksonville, Florida, on 29 October 1922, Hettie Simmons Love attended Fisk University and graduated in 1943. She then attended Penn's Wharton School, graduating with her MBA on 18 June 1947.
A 2017 article in the Wharton Magazine described her as a "trailblazer" who "open[ed] the door for both minorities and women in the study of business management."
She recalled that she was the only Black student at Wharton when she attended, and one of only two women in her class, but found colleagues among three Jewish male classmates who invited her to join their study group.
The black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, which she joined at Fisk University in 1941, honored her at their Atlanta convention in 2016. The Wharton School honored her later that year at its annual Whitney M. Young Conference, in December 2016.
Hettie Simmons married George Hayward Love, Sr., who received Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He became the first African-American employed as a high school teacher in the Philadelphia school system.
The Loves later moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where George Love supervised the desegregation of schools. They also raised their children, George H. Love, Jr. and Karen. Hettie Simmons Love was married to George Love for 66 years at the time of his death in 2014.
In October 2022, Hettie Simmons Love celebrated her 100th birthday and became a centenarian. She died at her home in Harrisburg on 14 July 2023, at the age of 100 years, 258 days.
References[]
- Hettie Simmons Love National Youth Foundation (PDF)
- George H. Love, Sr. Obituary Hooper Memorial Home, 14 December 2014
- Remembering George Love: a gentleman and scholar who fought racism Penn Live, 21 December 2014
- Meet Diamond Member Hettie S. Love! AKA North Atlantic Region on Facebook, 15 March 2016
- Honoring Wharton’s First African-American MBA Graduate Wharton Magazine, Fall/Winter 2017
- New Book Honor the Wharton School’s First African American MBA Graduate, Hettie Simmons Love The Tennessee Tribune, 5 July 2021
- Hettie Simmons Love, First Black Graduate of Preeminent Business School Wharton, Is Honored 75 Years Later Finurah, 8 March 2022
- Hettie Simmons Love turns 100 and reads to the children of St. Stephen's Episcopal School City of Harrisburg - WHBG20 on YouTube, 3 November 2022
- Pioneer, Powerhouse: For 100 years, Hettie Simmons Love has broken barriers, set standards TheBurg, 30 March 2023
- Harrisburg’s Hettie Love, first Black graduate from Ivy League MBA program, dies at 100 Penn Live, 17 July 2023
- Hettie Love Obituary Penn Live