Few biology professors are interviewed by the likes of media luminaries Oprah Winfrey and Mike Wallace, let alone for something outside of their academic discipline. But Thomas Gaither was a sought-after speaker for his influence outside of the classroom, where he spent his entire career teaching biology at Slippery Rock University before retiring in 2007.
Prior to arriving at SRU in 1968, Gaither was one of the “Friendship Nine” civil rights activists who in 1961 conducted a lunch counter sit-in to protest South Carolina segregation laws. A member of the National Civil Rights Hall of Fame, Gaither received national recognition for his leadership, sharing stories from the civil rights movement and messages of nonviolence and hope. His speeches, letters and oral history are chronicled in the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian.
Gaither, 86, passed away Dec. 23, 2024, at his home in Prospect, not far from SRU’s campus where he impacted the lives of students who knew him almost entirely as an educator, rather than an activist.
