Lucius Ware, educator and civil rights leader on Long Island, dies at 91

Lucius Ware, a dedicated educator who advocated for students and a galvanizing civil rights leader who stood against injustice as head of the Eastern Long Island chapter of the NAACP, has died. He was 91.

Ware died of complications of cancer on Sept. 24 at East End Hospice, his family said.

Ware, who lived in Southampton, is remembered for his devotion to his students and his work to increase diversity within the town’s workforce.

"The quality of a person’s life is of no value, except how they affect the lives of others," said his son, Lester Ware, 65, of Southampton. "And I'd say he exemplified that from being a teacher, being a coach, being an administrator and later being a civil rights activist."

Born in 1933, Lucius Ware developed a sense of the importance of activism and education early during his youth in Braceville, Ohio. Ware, the family said, was often the smartest person in the room, graduating first in his class in high school.

His father, the Rev. Leon Ware Sr., was on the executive committee of the NAACP in Trumbull County, Ohio. And around the time he was in high school, Lucius Ware also developed a zeal for activism, he told Newsday in a 2020 article.

After learning that news about Black people was consigned to a small section labeled as "For Colored Subscribers," he and others organized a boycott of a newspaper in his hometown that lasted for two months, according to Newsday archives. The news outlet eventually changed its approach.

Ware later attended Central State University, where he played offensive and defensive tackle on the football team, the family said. After finishing college in 1955, Ware joined the Army and later taught at the high school that he attended. He also became the principal of an Ohio elementary school.

Eventually, Ware made his way to Long Island after the death of his parents in the 1960s. Southampton was the hometown of his wife, Bette Ware, who died in 1970. His first impression of Southampton was, "What a sleepy Southern town," his son recalled.

But Long Island became his home and the place he would continue his education career. He worked at Southampton High School as a work-study coordinator, Newsday reported.

He later held administrative roles in school districts on Long Island's East End and in East Orange, New Jersey. He also worked to help form the Long Island Black Educators Association.

Beyond the classroom, Lucius Ware became president of the Eastern Long Island NAACP during the 1990s, after he retired. In that role, he spoke out about several issues, including the need for more educators of color within Long Island’s school districts and the lack of diversity in the Southampton town attorney's office.

He helped orchestrate protests of Southampton in 1999 and into early 2000, saying the town had not kept its promises in an affirmative action agreement struck during the 1970s to diversify the town's workforce, Newsday reported.

The protest took place for a few months and included demonstrations at the town hall and a prayer vigil, Newsday said. One demonstration was particularly raucous, with protesters hitting pots and pans throughout the hall.

The town eventually relented and started to implement the agreement. Before the demonstration, there were just a few Black people employed by the town, Ware told Newsday. By 2003, the number was 17%.

 "Wherever he heard that people were having problems, he didn't wait. He just went to represent people," said Audrey Gaines, a friend of Ware who lives in East Hampton.

Even though he was a community activist and teacher, his family said Ware was also a supportive and firm father and grandfather.

"He had a way of making you feel like a special person in the world," said his daughter, Leisha Ware, 61, of Middle Island.

Lester Ware said his father's life amounted to three lifetimes.

"He lived that first life — the young superstar. That second life — the driven family man, working. He lived that third life being of service to others," he said.

Lucius Ware is survived by his two children, daughter in-law Helen Samuels, 69, of Southampton, and James Jancus, his daughter’s partner who is 60 and lives in Middle Island. Ware is also survived by three grandchildren and  three great-grandchildren.

A wake will be held Friday at Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral will be held at the Hamptons United Methodist Church on Saturday at 11 a.m.  Burial will be at the Shinnecock Cemetery, the family said.

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Education: Howard University 

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.

Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation;  New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting;  Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.