James Armsey
James W. Armsey (December 13, 1917 – November 2, 2008) was an American who served as an executive at the Ford Foundation where he oversaw the distribution of nearly a half billion dollars in grants. Through his efforts in the 1960s, the foundation denied grants to segregated universities, leading to the admission of the first black students at several major universities in the United States. Early life Armsey was born in Olney, Illinois on December 13, 1917 and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism in 1941. He served for five years in the United States Army during World War II as a public relations officer at various posts in the United States and in New Delhi in the India-Burma Theater, and left the Army with the rank of Major. After his military service, he returned to the University of Illinois was awarded a master's degree in political science in 1946. Career He was director of public relations at the Illinois Institute of Technology from 1947 to 1952 under the Institute's president Henry T. Heald, and was assistant to the Chancellor of New York University from 1952 to 1956 when