Dorothy L. Lord a long-time educator and former president of what is now the College of Coastal Georgia, passed on Sunday, May 2, 2021, in Fernandina Beach, Florida. She was 78 years old and had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Lord was born at home on the family farm in Suwannee County, Florida. She was valedictorian of her high school class in 1960. In 1964, she was a manga cum laude graduate of Florida State Univerity. She added two master’s degrees from Florida State Univerity and then taught at Georgia Southwestern University in Americus. She later earned a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Florida State University.
Dr. Lord then continued her career as a professor, dean, and later as vice president of academic affairs at Edison Community College (now Florida Southwestern State College) in Fort Myers. In 1991, she was appointed president of Brunswick Community College in Georgia. She was the first woman to lead a community college in Georgia. During her tenure, she prepared the educational institution for a transition into a four-year college, which was renamed College of Coastal Georgia.
Dr. Lord retired in 2008.