Vanderbilt Trustee Emerita Dudley White Dies at 95

Dudley Brown White, who served 26 years on Vanderbilt University's Board of Trust and led civic groups across Nashville, died Oct. 16, 2026. She was 95. Vanderbilt named her Trustee Emerita in 2006, the year her trustee term ended.

White came to Vanderbilt as family. Her father, W.C. "Foskett" Brown, earned his BE in 1916. Her grandfather, Charles Sumner Brown, chaired the mechanical engineering department from 1915 to 1925 and led the Vanderbilt Athletic Association as president. White graduated magna cum laude from the College of Arts and Science in 1953.

Three descendants followed her through campus. Her son Walter Morgan III, MD'82, teaches at Vanderbilt's School of Medicine and sees patients at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. Her son William Morgan earned a BE in 1981 and an MBA in 1986. Her grandson John Morgan completed a BS in 2011.

The Board of Trust elected White in 1980. She chaired Reunion fundraising in 2003 and advised on the Campaign for Vanderbilt and the Shape the Future campaign. In 1996 she created the Walter M. Morgan Jr. Scholarship, named for her late first husband, to support men's basketball players. She also stewarded the Hugh J. Morgan Chair in Medicine, which honors her father-in-law, Dr. Hugh Jackson Morgan, and the John E. Chapman M.D. Endowed Scholarship in the School of Medicine.

White led groups outside the university as well. She served as president of the Junior League of Nashville, the Ladies' Hermitage Association, the Horticultural Society of Middle Tennessee, the Garden Club of Nashville and the Women of St. George's Episcopal Church. She chaired fundraising efforts for St. George's and for The Hermitage.

Her board work reached Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, Harpeth Hall School, The Ensworth School, the Nashville Symphony, George Peabody College for Teachers, United Way of Middle Tennessee, the Garden Club of America, the American Horticultural Society and The Linville Foundation. George Peabody College merged with Vanderbilt in 1979 and became Peabody College of education and human development.

White was preceded in death by her first husband of 40 years, Walter McNairy Morgan Jr., and her second husband, John Warner White. Vanderbilt extended condolences to the White and Morgan families. Her full obituary is available online.