Royce H. Vaughn ’53

The following is an expanded version of a memorial from the April 20, 2016, issue.

One of three African American students admitted in the Class of 1953, Royce came from Cleveland, Ohio, where he had been elected lieutenant governor of Ohio Buckeye Boys’ State in 1948. Royce, who joined Quadrangle Club and majored in Renaissance art history and religion, grew impatient with — among other incidents — the professor who called him a racial slur and refused to accept an African American in his class and the professor who gave him a failing grade in spite of 1+ papers.

Told he would have to leave because of the failing grade, Royce joined the Army and then settled into an award-winning career as an artist in San Francisco. Royce’s early works, which were primarily bold oils and acrylics, were featured in one-man shows in the Bay Area. Toward the end of his career, he produced a series of quiet watercolors of California scenery.  His work is listed in Afro-American Artists, the Boston Public Library, New Perspectives in Black Art, the Oakland Museum, and Black Dimensions in Contemporary Art among others.        

Always involved in the larger community, Royce created programs to provide motivational job training for youth and to build up local businesses. He served as vice president of the San Francisco Council of District Merchants and won its Outstanding Association Member award in 2003.

Royce died June 15, 2015, after several years of increasing disability. He is survived by his wife, Judy; two sons; two daughters; and four grandchildren. In spite of what he encountered, Royce wrote that he would “always be grateful” for the education he acquired at Princeton.