Wallace White dies at 89. He was a role model to many up-and-coming Black professionals in Milwaukee.

Over his long professional career, Wallace White was a role model and a godsend for up-and-coming Black professionals like Tyrone Dumas.

“Wallace White was able to walk in the halls few African Americans were able to reach," Dumas said. "It took a lot for him to get to where he was, and he shared those stories with us.”

White, 89, was the first African American executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and later served as a commissioner and chairman. White died June 11 at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton after a long illness.

“He helped so many people by talking to us and telling us what not to do and how we could move ahead. He knew because he knocked down the doors for many, and he’s been there to see what was done to others who came before him,” Dumas said.

“The first Black” on any job carries a lot of weight and responsibility. People expect you to be perfect and not make any mistakes, and when you are in that position, you know how many people are watching your every move. You need someone who can tell you how to avoid one of the many pitfalls that can hurt you. It’s those conversations that I will remember the most.”

White served three Black mayors

Before moving to Milwaukee in 1989, White was a sociologist, working as a community organizer in Chicago and specializing in inner-city youth and gang violence reduction.

He worked for three Black mayors. He was a cabinet member for Mayor Richard Hatcher, the first African American mayor of Gary, Indiana, in the mid-1970s. Later that decade, he worked as chief administrative officer for Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson in Newark, New Jersey.  And in the 1980s, White was an administrator in Mayor Marion Barry's administration in Washington, D.C.

While White was in Washington working in wastewater management, he developed a reputation as an expert in the field, attracting attention from officials as far away as Japan.

"He was lured to Milwaukee because one of the MMSD commissioners, Sheila Payton, was interested in bringing more diversity to Milwaukee's upper management," said his wife, Sandra White. Sandra and Wallace met at MMSD. She worked with small, minority and women-owned businesses. They were married on Feb. 20, 1999.

White joined MMSD in 1989 as the first African American executive director, a position he held until 1991 when he left over political differences.

As executive director of MMSD, White oversaw the management of the Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility, South Shore Wastewater Treatment plant and the MMSD administration.

"He was responsible for an increase in the hiring of minority employees and minority-run businesses through the procurement program," Sandra White said.

In 2010, when White was running his own management consulting firm, W2 Excel LLC, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett tapped him to be chair of the MMSD commission, which oversees MMSD operations.

A long career in business and government

White made it his mission to push for the inclusion of African Americans and women into higher positions and to support minority-run and small businesses, which he considered the cornerstone of strong communities, Sandra White said.

"Wallace saw small minority business as an economic program where as others saw it as a social program. He also believed if you grow these businesses you will have a much stronger economic base in your community," she said.

White worked for many years in private business, including for Jacobs Engineering Group where he was a vice president.

White launched and ran two local businesses. From 1992 to 2004, he acquired and managed Vaporized Coatings Inc., an industrial powder coating services company. In 2004, he founded W2 Excel LLC, a business administration consulting firm.

From 2006 to 2010, White was an instructor at Cardinal Stritch University's College of Business & Management.

He also was a board member and program chair for the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board and was chairman of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Milwaukee.

White is survived by his wife, Sandra; sons Marc of Homewood, Ill., Darryl of Evergreen Park, Ill., Gary of Orlando, Fla., Terry of Calumet City, Ill., and Ramon Robinson of Milwaukee; and daughters Alissa Waters of Alexandria, Va., Camille Williams of Columbia, Md., and Toni Jackson of Hampton, La.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wallace White, role model to Milwaukee Black professionals, dies at 89