Clifton R. Wharton Jr., former Michigan State University president and pioneer, is dead at the age of 98, the school said.

He was the first African American to become president of a large white university, C.E.O. of a major corporation and deputy secretary of state.

EAST LANSING — Clifton Wharton Jr., a former Michigan State University president whose name and memory are tied to MSU's Wharton Center, died Saturday. He was 98, MSU’s president from 1970-1978, and a man of many firsts.

Former Michigan State President Clifton R. Wharton Jr., has died at the age of 98.Wharton was appointed Michigan State’s 14th president in 1970, he was also recognized as the first Black President of a major U.