Quentin Easter died of cancer April 28, 2010, in San Francisco. He was 57.
A native of Baltimore, he was an active and influential figure on campus during our undergraduate years, serving as student government president during our senior year. He earned his degree in history, with a certificate in Afro-American Studies.
Quentin went on to use those leadership abilities in the theater community in San Francisco, where the San Francisco Chronicle called him “a tireless and gently persuasive advocate for his theater and for black cultural groups.” The director of Grants for the Arts named him “the conscience of the theater community.”
Quentin and his longtime companion, Stanley E. Williams, co-founded the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in 1981; Quentin was its executive director. Begun in a storefront, it became “the premier African-American theater company in the Bay Area and eventually the state,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Quentin was among the deceased theatrical luminaries honored at last year’s Tony Awards.
Besides Stanley, who is artistic director of the Hansberry Theatre, Quentin is survived by his father, Herman J. Easter Sr.; his brothers, Cedric and Wayne; and his sister, Karlita Easter Johnson. The class shares their sadness.