What happened to JoAnne Epps? The acting president of Temple University has been confirmed dead aged 72. What she died of, her career, and fortune explored.
Temple University’s JoAnne Epps was an educationist and the first Black woman to lead the school.
She was the temporary head in place of Jason Wingard who resigned in March, 2023.
On September, 2023, the university was hit was the tragic news of her passing as she collapsed and died onstage. Here’s what we know about her profession, net worth, and cause of death.
What was Joanne Epps cause of death?
Joanne Epps has died after suddenly becoming unresponsive on stage at a school event on Tuesday, September 19, 2023.
“I am devastated by this loss,” Mitchell Morgan, the chair of the university’s board of trustees, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“She was our light at the end of the tunnel.
“Temple University will survive it. I’m not sure I will emotionally survive it.”
Epps was scheduled to speak at an event in memory of historian and activist Charles Blockson on Tuesday.
After arriving on stage, she could be seen slumped over in her chair and was eventually carried out by a uniformed security guard.
Epps was then transported to Temple University Hospital and died at 3.15pm, the school said in a statement.
Her cause of death was not immediately known.
News of death quickly spread on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Rest In Power,” said Hugh Dillon, a well-known news photographer in the Philadelphia area.
“She was very inspiring, kind, a people person, firm in her convictions, admirable, humble.”
What was Joanne Epps’ net worth?
Joanne Epps’ fortune was never reported anywhere: not on Forbes nor Celebrity Net Worth, however, she was estimated to have had a net worth of at least $500,000 at the time of her death.
Before she died in 2023, Epps, 72, had held the role as the acting president of Temple University in Philadelphia, since the resignation of university president Jason Wingard in March.
She was the first Black woman to lead the school.
The seasoned educator had worked at the school for nearly four decades.
She had previously helmed the university’s law school and acted as provost.
Epps had planned to retire before she was asked to step in as acting president.
The university’s executive, Morgan, plans to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to determine the university’s next step.
It’s currently in the midst of searching for a permanent president, but that process could take several months.
The event Epps was scheduled to speak at went on as planned.
Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon, the university’s former faculty senate president, stepped in to read the late acting president’s remarks.
Epps was born in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, a suburb immediately north of Philadelphia, in 1951.
She attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, before receiving her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.
Epps left behind her husband Jay.