Dr. Ernest Hardaway II

Dr. Ernest Hardaway II’s distinguished, pioneering career as the consummate public health advocate in government spanned 50 years. He was an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Captain U. S. Navy; Commissioner of Public Health for the District of Columbia (first dentist to hold this office); and a Director of Federal Occupational Health U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. He served as Chairman on Academic Affairs, University of Illinois College of Business, was a member of the CFO Council Committee on Entrepreneurial Government Office of Management and Budget, Washington, D. C., Human Research International Review Board; Health Coordinating Council, as well as, a member of the Board of Directors for the United Black Fund, Potomac Valley Myasthenia Gravis Foundation, Rosemont Health Center Advisory Board, and Secretary of the District of Columbia Commission on Licensure to Practice Healing Arts. Moreover, he held various administrative positions with the Bureau of Medical Services and Health Services Administration U. S. Public Health Service and Bureau of Quality Assurance, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D. C.

Dr. Ernest Hardaway II was the son of Virginia Laura Hill Hardaway and Ernest Hardaway Sr. Dr. Hardaway was born on March 3, 1934 in Columbus, Georgia. He peacefully made his transition on March 9, 2022 in Orlando, Florida with his devoted wife Clinical Psychologist Dr. Sandrea Smith Hardaway by his side. Sandrea was the love of his life.

Dr. Hardaway was raised in Hamtramck, Michigan. He was a proud graduate of Hamtramck High School; Howard University, Washington, D. C. Bachelor of Science Degree, Chemistry at Howard University, where he went on to earn a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. Later he became an Assistant Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Howard University Medical Center, having been Chief Resident of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He received a Master of Public Health degree at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. While serving as a professional staff member on the U. S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee as a special assistant to the Director of Office Policy Planning and Evaluation for the U. S. Department of Health, he was encouraged by Chairman Wilbur Mills in the 1970’s to pursue a career in public health. Dr. Hardaway made a lifetime commitment to public service.

Dr. Hardaway was an American Association Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon Fellow, member of the International College Dentistry Royal Society of Health, Academy of Dentistry International, American College of Dentistry, the American Dental Association, District of Columbia Council consultant on hospital dental care, Secretary-Treasurer of the Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, member of the National Dental Association; Omicron Kappa Upsilon and Delta Mu Chi fraternities, a Louise C. Ball Fellow; Global Community Health Fellow Department of Health, recipient of Meritorious Service Award U. S. Public Health Service; J. B. Johnson Nursing Center Award; National Dental Association Dentist of the Year, 1983 and 1st Annual Distinguished Service Award,1984. He also received the Outstanding Service plaque from the D.C. Village Choir, Distinguished Service Certificate from Concerned Citizens for Alcohol Abuse; the Whitman-Walker award for AIDS effort, 1984, and the Exceptional Accomplishment Award as Regional Health Administrator in1987.

A lifelong member of St. Peter AME Zion Church and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Dr. Hardaway also held memberships in Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and was former Grammateus of Beta Boule, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., National Association of Guardsmen, the Druids Club of Chicago as well as former President, and 100 Black Men of America, Inc.

Dr. Hardaway was previously married to the late Attorney Claudette Vivian Cofield Hardaway, first Black female Associate Attorney General of North Carolina. Two sons were born to that union Ernest Kai Hardaway III, Mortician, Raleigh, North Carolina, former Mayor of Enfield, North Carolina, and Attorney Thomas C. Hardaway, Regional Director of PhRMA, Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Hardaway leaves to cherish his memory his beloved grandchildren Alexander Claudette Jean Hardaway, Los Angeles, California, Bowen Lee Hardaway, Thomas Cofield Hardaway and Caitlyn Claudette Marie Hardaway of Atlanta, Georgia, and nephew Dr. James A. Hinesly, Orthodontist and his wife Dr. Mary Hinesly, University of Michigan Professor, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dr. Hardaway was preceded in death by his sister Kathryn Hardaway Hinesly of Detroit, Michigan.

Many people valued and appreciated Dr. Hardaway’s friendship, old friends, new friends, professional colleagues and mentees alike for the caring he showed, the laughter, smiles, and insights they shared. He will be dearly missed. He wrote in his high school yearbook the motto “Live and let live”.

Entombment will be at Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery, Warren, Michigan at a date to be determined.

In lieu of flowers, the Hardaway family asks that contributions be made to the Dr. Ernest Hardaway II Scholarship Fund in memory of Ernest Hardaway Sr., Virginia L. Hardaway, and Kathryn P. Hardaway Hinesly, Howard University, 2400 6th St. NW, Washington, DC 20059, https://giving.howard,edu/givenow.

The Hardaway Family thanks each of you for your prayers, loving thoughts, and all acts of kindness.