One of Mississippi State University’s most notable alums has passed

Dr. Richard E. Holmes, the first African-American student in Mississippi State history, visited campus on Tuesday night for “Leading out Front: A Conversation with Dr. Richard Holmes.” The trailblazer discussed how the university as a whole supported him and provided him the motivational learning atmosphere that allowed him to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a physician.
(photo by Beth Newman Wynn/ Mississippi State University)

MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY, Miss. (WCBI) – One of Mississippi State University’s most notable alums has passed away.

The university announced that Dr. Richard E. Holmes died Friday October 16th.

Dr. Holmes was MSU’s first African American student. He enrolled at the university in July 1965, and graduated with two degrees, a Liberal Arts degree in 1969 and a Master’s Degree in Microbiology in 1973.

Holmes earned his medical degree at Michigan State University in 1977 and worked as an emergency room physician in Birmingham.

He came back to Mississippi State in 2003 as staff physician at the Longest Student Health Center on campus.

In 1991, the university honored his achievements by naming the university’s cultural diversity center in his honor.

He and his wife Judie also endowed a minority scholarship fund.

In 2006 he was named 2006 National Alumnus of the Year, and in August of this year, the Richard E. Holmes Plaza between the old YMCA Building and the Student Union was dedicated in his honor.

When he first enrolled at MSU Holmes wrote a letter to administrators that said in part: “As a lifelong Mississippian, I am here to study and learn at a high-rated Mississippi University, which happens to be in my hometown.”:

Dr. Richard Holmes was 82-years old.