Community activist Henry “Hank” Pannell dies at 85

Henry “Hank” Francis Pannell, an activist and visionary who spent his life giving back to the community that raised him, died at home on Dec. 21. He was 85.

The first child of Peter and Francis Tilotson Pannell, Hank was born June 3, 1939, at Princeton Hospital. He grew up with his siblings, Linwood, Roderick, and Rosemarie, in a large family home purchased by his grandparents, Peter and Claire Pannell, on Jackson Street (now Paul Robeson Place) when they moved from Virginia in the 1920s.

Hank, who built a learning center for neighborhood youth and mentored generations of them, was at the forefront of efforts to preserve the neighborhood and the history of African Americans in the historic Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood for more than four decades.

His commitment to making the world better for others came from his experiences as a child and young man.

“I wouldn’t trade one second of my childhood. I have so many fond memories of growing up here,” he said in a 2001 interview. “There were such great people. When I was growing up in the 1940s and early ’50s, it was a real community. You looked up to all your elders. There was a strong sense of connection and a bond in the neighborhood. People paid attention to what you were doing, and they’d never hesitate to correct you or let you know when you were doing something wrong. Sunday school and church were also important… We didn’t have much, but we enjoyed ourselves. We made our own scooters from spare parts, and bikes, too. We’d go camping overnight, even in the winter. This was before the area got so built up.”

Princeton was entirely segregated when Hank was growing up. Before the integration of schools in Princeton, he attended the Witherspoon School for the Colored Children on Quarry Street, where he loved learning and was greatly influenced by his Black teachers, who gave him a passion for history. In 1949, when he was transferred to fifth grade in the newly integrated Nassau Street School, everything changed.

“That’s when I found out about discrimination. I really feel as though I was cheated,” Hank said in an interview. “Just an example – I’m only five years younger than Clyde Thomas, and his friends all went to college. His class was the last group that graduated out of Quarry Street School. And that’s a perfect example of how many students who graduated from that school went on to college and had such excellent careers.”

Hank told the interviewer that at the Nassau Street School, Black students were largely ignored in the classroom and geared toward general education. “We weren’t pressed to ask or answer questions,” he said. “Even in high school, we used to sit in history class and compete among ourselves because the teacher never called on us. I never got another African American teacher until high school, and then only briefly.”

When he was 12, Hank’s grandmother died, and when he was 16, his mother died. His parents had separated, and his father wasn’t well, so Hank became the head of his household.

“All the neighbors helped us immensely. People brought food to the house, and we were allowed to stay on. We didn’t lack for food or anything,” he said. “I worked a night job at Mary Slee’s restaurant for Phelan DeShield, who was a chef, from 3 p.m. until 11 p.m. six nights a week to support my brothers and sister. I started out washing dishes, and I was assistant chef. There were a lot of times the chef wasn’t in, and I’d take over. I had learned to cook from my grandmother. In the summers I went to the Golden Chain camp in Blairstown to work with a chef. I loved to cook, and I still do.”

Hank also worked after school with plumber Earl McQueen. “I helped him and learned a lot that would help me later in my career,” Hank said in the interview.

After graduating from Princeton High School in 1957, Hank pursued a variety of career opportunities. He was the first employee, and the first African American hired, as a technician with Jet Propulsion Laboratories at the Forrestal Research Center on a project that later became the control fuel for the Apollo spaceship.

Next, he worked in the print shop at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he got to know Robert and Kitty Oppenheimer and became friends with their son, Peter. He studied photography and worked in Peter’s darkroom. He was also friends with Einstein’s secretary, Helen Dukas, who worked on Einstein’s papers across from the print shop.

Using what he learned at the Institute, and with the gift of a used printing press, Hank and his brother Rod, along with Louise Shaw, Joseph Moore, Joan Hill, and Romas Broadway, started a newspaper called The Black Word, which they printed and distributed to the Black community in the 1960s.

“It had news of what was going on and would be of interest to them,” he said. “It lasted for three years and was one of my proudest achievements.”

In 1966, Hank was hired as the first Black maintenance mechanic for Palmer Square. “I was involved in the heating and plumbing of all the Palmer Square buildings and the Nassau Inn,” he said.

He later accepted a job with the Housing Authority of Princeton Borough, where he remained for 28 years. The housing authority provided low- and moderate-income housing in Princeton, including 50 units on Clay Street, 10 each on Maple and Franklin terraces, and 50 on Spruce Circle. Later, 100 units were added at Redding Circle and Karin Court.

“I started in overall maintenance. I like the challenge of keeping everything in good working order,” Hank said. “Later I became the chief of maintenance, where I had an excellent staff. All the guys were local and very experienced and responsible.”

Former Princeton Housing Authority director Marcy Crimmins recalled Hank’s dedication: “Hank set up a summer work program to hire kids for the housing authority. For many of these kids, it was their first real job,” she said. “Hank was strict. They had to show up on time and learn responsibility. What it did for these kids was to help them get a start. This was so important.”

During this time, Hank and Crimmins put together the idea for the Clay Street Learning Center, which Hank and his staff built.

“We had a vision of a place for young people to go where they could study,” Hank said. “We wanted kids of all ages, from five through teens, to have computer classes, tutoring, homework help, and a chance to study.”

The center, in operation for nearly 20 years, became a year-round fixture in the community, where seniors as well as youth could take computer classes and receive a complimentary computer upon completion. Programs such as Princeton Young Achievers, English as a Second Language, and summer learning camps were held there.

In 2003, Princeton Borough renamed the learning center the Henry F. Pannell Learning Center in Hank’s honor. He was also the winner of the 2000 Vivian Award for Community Service.

Hank’s efforts to “raise the community” were also seen in his work as an original founder and president of the Jackson-Witherspoon Development Corp., which worked to preserve the neighborhood by purchasing and renovating properties to support homeownership at affordable prices.

Hank was a co-founder of Save Our Kids, which provided mentoring, recreation, and learning opportunities for young men in the community. He served as a longtime board member and former board president of the Princeton Nursery School and was on the boards of the Princeton Historical Society and Community House, a program at Princeton University.

He started computer classes for adults and children, collecting, repairing, and distributing computers to the community and to children in Ghana and at the Harlem YMCA.

Hank was instrumental in preserving the history of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood through photographs and videotapes. In 1999, he persuaded Kathryn Watterson, a writer and lecturer at Princeton University, to lead an oral history project to record residents’ stories. The project, supported by Princeton University students and community members, resulted in more than 50 oral histories and the first academic course focused on the history of the neighborhood. This work led to the book The North’s Most Southern Town: An Oral History of African-American Princeton 1900–2000 and a collection of videotaped interviews that will be housed in the Paul Robeson Room at the Princeton Public Library.

“When my mother passed away, this community rallied and helped me and my family exist. I owe this community something, and I’ll never finish paying them back,” he said.

Hank is survived by his wife, Eileen; their son, Henry Pannell; his sons, Dean Pannell and Clyde Pannell; his daughter, Rennie Pannell-Merrill; grandchildren, Malcolm, Javon, Sidney, and Jasmine; nephew, Bobby Pannell; stepson, Edward Beagles; step-grandchildren, Kendra Beagles and Edward Jr. Beagles; brother in friendship, Pete “PJ” Young; and a large host of family and lifelong friends.

The funeral was held Dec. 31. Mr. Pannell is buried at the historic Princeton Cemetery on Greenview Avenue.