Nathan Taylor Garrett, Sr.

The Memorial Service for Mr. Garrett will be live streamed on the Facebook Page of Fisher Memorial Funeral Parlor.

FACE MASKS ARE REQUIRED!!!

In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to the

University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Nathan Garrett’s story is one of humility, determination, and perseverance. Nathan Garrett, Sr. was born in Tarboro, NC to York David Garrett, Jr. and Julia Bond Williams on August 8, 1931.   The youngest of 4 children, Nathan was smart and inquisitive. In 1933, the family moved to Durham, NC where Nathan matriculated through Scarborough Nursery School, Whitted Elementary and Hillside High School.  He excelled academically as class valedictorian and class president, and he enjoyed playing tennis.  After school, Nathan and his siblings worked rotating shifts at Garrett’s Biltmore Drugstore. The family business, located inside the Biltmore Hotel on Pettigrew Street, was revered because Dr. York & Julia were an integral part of the Durham community.  Their work ethic and social concern helped set the path for the outsanding person Nathan would become.

Nathan entered Yale College in 1948 where he was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, the oldest of the collegiate, Black Greek-letter fraternities.  After graduating from Yale in 1952 with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology, Nathan joined the U.S. Army.  He was stationed at Fort Jackson, SC and served during the Korean War in the 43rd Field Artillery Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, with a specialty in heavy infantry weapons where he taught cartography.  After two years he was discharged with the rank of Corporal and began life in Detroit, Michigan.

While pursuing post graduate studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Nathan worked in the insurance industry, but quickly found that accounting came easy for him.  It was also at that time that he met and fell in love with Wanda Jones Wofford, a teacher in the Detroit public school system. It was a beautiful romance, and on September 6, 1958, the couple eloped to Toledo, Ohio with the assistance of close friends Bobby and Teola Gragg.

To this loving union, they each brought their children from previous marriages:  Devron Marc Wofford and Shahida Andrea Garrett. Nathan adopted Marc shortly thereafter, and the family enjoyed life together in Detroit.

In the years following, Nathan faced challenges while trying to break into the accounting industry. In 1957, despite being a Yale graduate, a U.S. Army veteran and maintaining an “A” average throughout his studies at Wayne State University, Nathan found himself unable to obtain a position with a regional or national accounting firm. He was told that clients would object to a “Negro”, and they would not be able to utilize his services.

Disappointed, but not defeated, Nathan ultimately found employment with a private firm in Detroit owned by Richard H. Austin, the first African American in Michigan to earn the CPA designation.  Austin later became Michigan’s first African American Secretary of State. Under the tutelage of Austin, Garrett gained valuable experience and eventually became the fifth African American CPA in the state of Michigan (and approximately the 63rd in the United States).  He received his North Carolina certificate in 1964.

In 1962, Nathan and Wanda moved the family to his hometown of Durham, North Carolina, and in 1963, welcomed the birth of their third child, Nathan Jr.  It was also in 1962 that Nathan opened the first Black-owned accounting firm in the state. After many years and a lot of hard work, the firm became the largest minority-owned firm in North Carolina. Garrett practiced as a Certified Public Accountant in North Carolina from 1962–2004. 

Throughout his career, he continued breaking down barriers and promoting positive changes.  In 2008, he was honored by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) where he served as the first black National Chairman.  The Center for the Public Trust honored him as a recipient of the Being a Difference Award for his monumental work promoting ethical leadership and diversity.  Nathan received the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.  The Triangle Business Journal honored him with the Lifetime Achievement Award at its Leaders in Diversity Luncheon in 2015.

Nathan was the founder and former executive director of the Foundation for Community Development (FCD). The FCD, originally formed as part of the North Carolina Fund, was created in 1963 to “break the cycle of poverty” that was plaguing many of North Carolina’s residents. Nathan along with Allard Alston founded United Durham Incorporated (UDI), and he later served as a Durham County Commissioner. Additionally, he was chairman emeritus of the board of directors for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance, Chairman of the board at Fayetteville State university, and a member of the Board of Directors at Duke University.  He was a tenured professor in the School of Business at NCCU.  Nathan served as president of the National Association of Minority CPA Firms, and the North Carolina Association of Minority Businesses. He also was chairman of the Minority Economic Development Advisory Committee to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.  He served on the Board of Seeds, he was Chairman of the Duke Patient Advocacy Committee, and served in leadership positions for many other organizations.

As an author, public speaker and community volunteer, Nathan continued throughout his life to transcend the limitations that were applied to African Americans, while also promoting fairness and equality for all minorities, regardless of religion, gender, or ethnic origin. Today, some of the largest national accounting firms that once turned him away, have now employed qualified candidates that were trained by none other than Nathan Garrett and those that he trained and mentored.  Garrett, Sullivan & Company and it’s successor firms have produced hundreds of highly qualified CPAs, Business professionals and Public Officials.

Nathan and his wife Wanda have always been committed to the education and social development of our youth. Together they imported, helped and encouraged many Michigan family members to North Carolina colleges and universities:  Connie Stephenson to NCCU; Lynnette French to Bennett College; Stephan French, James Gooden, Sulaiman Mausi, Sr. and Malik Mausi all to NCCU, and Dorian Mausi Jr. to Duke University.   Their encouragement did not stop at family, as many Hillside and NCCU alums and children of friends can attest to their unwavering support .  As a result of their community service and vast interest in developing and encouraging young people, both were inducted into the Hall of Fame at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (Wanda’s alma mater).

Nathan Taylor Garrett, Sr. is preceded in death by his parents Dr. York David Garrett, Jr. and Julia Bond Williams Garrett, his brothers York David Garrett, III and Oliver Thomas Garrett, and sister Gloria Williams Garrett Pratt.

He is survived by his loving wife of nearly 65 years, Wanda Jones Wofford Garrett, son Devron Garrett, daughter Shahida Mausi (Jesse Brooks), and son Nathan T Garrett, Jr. (Gail); nieces Gwenn Gooden, Constance Stephenson, Marlene Simmons, Adrienne Crockett, Claudia Chears, Yvonne Moore, Carol Jones, Janetta Gatewood, Valerie Stephenson, Jillian Gatewood and Korene Smith; nephews Sidney Jones, Gregory French, Tommy Garrett, Howard Jones, Jeffrey Jones, Stephan French and Michael Garrett; seven grandchildren: Dorian Mausi, Sr. (Lori), Sulaiman Mausi, Sr. (Lesleigh), Rashid Mausi (Adira), Malik Mausi, Nathan T. Garrett III, Lalia Corinne Garrett (Tevin Burnett) and Dalton Garrett; Two God-children Fred McKinney and Gail Woods; thirteen great-grandchildren, and a host of grand-nieces and nephews, cousins, loving family and great friends.

Nathan Taylor Garrett, Sr.’s time here was a life well lived.  He led a purpose filled life and created a lasting legacy that will carry on through the ones he touched, taught and loved.

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