An Eastern Carolina college is mourning the loss of its president emeritus.
Dr. Burkette Raper, who served as president at Mount Olive College for 41 years, died Monday morning. His obituary says Raper was 83-years-old and he died after a battle with cancer.
When he began as Mount Olive president in 1954, Raper was the youngest college president in the United States. The college says when he retired in 1995, Raper was the current longest-tenured president in the country.
His funeral will be 11:00 a.m. Thursday in Kornegay Arena on the campus of Mount Olive College.
