UNC law Professor Marilyn Yarbrough, one of the first black female law professors in the country, died Tuesday at the age of 58.
Almost a hundred relatives, co-workers, colleagues and former students celebrated Yarbrough's life at a memorial service Sunday afternoon held in Duke Chapel, where she attended services for several years.
"It is impossible to think of the ... law school without thinking of Marilyn Yarbrough," said Gene Nichol, dean of the UNC School of Law.
Nichol said she had a gift of understanding people's feelings.
"Her antennae were sharpened and finely tuned," he said.
From 1994 to 1996, Yarbrough served as associate provost at the University.
Born in Bowling Green, Ky., in 1945, Yarbrough was raised in Raleigh and graduated from J.W. Ligon High School in 1962.
She received her bachelor's degree in English from Virginia State University in 1966 as a National Merit Scholar and received her law degree from the University of California-Los Angeles in 1973.
She became a law professor through a teaching fellow program at Boston College Law School in 1975.
She became an associate professor at the University of Kansas School of Law in 1976 and was promoted to full professor in 1981.
Yarbrough served as dean of the University of Tennessee College of Law from 1987 to 1991, making her the first black female dean at a major southern law school.
She then served as the William J. Maier Jr. Chair of Law at West Virginia University in 1991 before becoming the William Rand Kenan Jr. visiting professor at UNC.
She became a full-time faculty member at UNC in 1993 and taught at Nijmegen in the Netherlands as part of UNC's faculty exchange.
Yarbrough's areas of expertise included race and gender discrimination, sports law and professional responsibility.
Yarbrough was a scholar on race and gender discrimination, and she served as executive director of the Black Law Journal.
"She had a real sensitivity for what minorities might be experiencing," said Linda Karolak, who served with Yarbrough on the Duke Chapel Congregation Council.
In addition to her duties as a professor at UNC, Yarbrough served as president of the council for three years.
"She really had a zest for life," Karolak said. "She was really a lady of service."
Edward Karolak also served on the council with Yarbrough.
"She was a very excellent leader ... very compassionate, a good listener and a really incredible person," Edward Karolak said.
Yarbrough was involved with United Way, serving as board president in Lawrence, Kan., and as a board member in Knoxville, Tenn. At UNC, she led a chancellor-appointed task force more than two years ago that reviewed and began the extensive overhaul of the University's honor system.
"We knew that she was loved but could not know how many people she touched," said Barbara Hubbard, Yarbrough's stepsister.
"Marilyn was many things to many people, but she was always a caregiver."
Along with Hubbard, Yarbrough is survived by her stepfather, John Toole; one brother, William O. Yarbrough Jr.; two daughters, Carmen Ainsworth Brady and Carla Ainsworth; and one grandson, Daniel Philip Brady.
Friends and loved ones said Yarbrough would have loved a day such as Sunday with a Carolina blue sky, basketball on television and friends and family gathered together for good food.
"She was loved by many," Ainsworth Brady said.
"She was a Tar Heel through and through."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
