Alfred D. Price Jr. ’69

Al died May 2, 2023, of cancer. He left a huge void in the lives of his family, his Buffalo community, his church, and our class.

Al grew up in Buffalo, where his father served as manager of a historic public-housing project, later named A.D. Price Courts in his father’s honor. In high school he was a member of the student council, the NAACP Youth Council, and the SNCC.

At Princeton, Al was deeply involved in the Association of Black Collegians, was national chairman of Afro-Americans for Educational Opportunity, and was jazz director of WPRB. Classmates remember him not only for parties and protests, but also for late night conversations about their collective futures as Black men coming of age in the 1960s.

In 1975, Al became the first Black student to earn a master’s degree in architecture and urban planning from Princeton. In 1977, he began his 42-year tenure on the faculty of the School of Architecture and Planning at SUNY Buffalo. Al’s research, advocacy, and public service focused primarily on issues of affordable housing.  His service to the Episcopal Church began in his childhood when his family desegregated the Church of the Ascension in Buffalo at the request of their bishop.  Over time, six bishops of the Diocese of Western New York came to rely on him for advice, and for his service he was named Canon Architect of the Diocese.

Al was a person of amazing energy —intellectual, emotional, and physical. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; children Douglas, Eric, Megan, and Sarah; and nine grandchildren. With them, we mourn the passing of this extraordinary man.