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JD 7/5/63

SUFFERED CANCER

Clyde Kennard Dies In Chicago Hospital

CHICAGO (AP) – Clyde Kennard, 36, a Negro who once tried unsuccessfully to enter an all-white college in Mississippi, died Thursday night in the University of Chicago Hospital.

He had undergone abdominal surgery several days ago. The cause of death was not immediately determined.

Kennard first entered the hospital in February after being released from a Mississippi prison where he was serving a seven-year term on a theft conviction in 1960. A 17-year-old youth testified that Kennard paid him to steal $25 worth of feed.

Gov. Ross Barnett suspended Kennard’s sentence indefinitely because Kennard was suffering from cancer. An appeal of Kennard’s conviction is pending in U.S. district court.

Kennard had returned to the hospital after earlier surgery. His flight to Chicago for treatment reportedly was paid for by Negro comedian Dick Gregory.

Prior to his release in April Kennard had said, “I’ll go back (to Mississippi)…There’s a chicken farm we have outside Hattiesburg and I want to see if we can’t get it running again.”

He lived there with his widowed mother, Leona Smith.

Kennard left Chicago in 1956 at the end of his junior year at the University of Chicago to take over operation of the farm after his stepfather died. In 195[?] he tried unsuccessfully to enter the University of Southern Mississippi.

Also surviving are a sister, Sara A. Tarpley of Chicago, and three brothers, Lawrence of Galveston, Tex., Albert, serving in the Army, and Melvin, serving in the Navy.

A Clyde Kennard fund has been established at the University of Chicago to benefit cancer research. His family suggested that memorial gifts be made to this fund by persons who wish to remember him.

Services will be held Sunday in Chicago.