TO THE CHAPTER INVISIBLE
Dorrin D. Rolle 1945–2020 Miami-Dade County Commissioner
WilliamC. Picott III 1939–2020 Technology Executive, U.S. Army
Michigan University in 1974, and completed senior executive programs at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and MIT’s Sloan School of Management in 1979 and 1990, respectively. Picott spent 37 years working in the information technology industry, most notably with Digital Equipment Corpo- ration (DEC). He was the first person of color to lead Digital Equipment Computer Users’ Society (DECUS). At DEC, he managed the Terminals and Printing Engineering division. After 28 years with the company, Bill retired in 2003 as the director of Hewlett Pack- ard’s North American technical sales support call center. Throughout his career, Bill championed the hiring and mentoring of engineers of color through the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). He also represented DEC on the White House’s Committee for Science and Technology at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Picott had an interest in photography, videography, tennis, and golf, and was a longtime fan of the Boston Celtics, the New England Patriots, and the Dallas Cowboys (as long as they were winning). He prided himself on being an engaged father, and volunteered as a youth base- ball and softball coach and Cub Scout leader. In the late 1970s, he played the role of Santa Claus for the Congrega- tional Church Christmas Fair, redefining stereotypes by being the first Black man to play the role in Harvard. His warm personality inspired children and parents alike to embrace inclusion and the spirit of the holiday. Picott contributed his considerable talents to a variety of charitable causes. Brother William C. Picott, III is sur- vived by his wife of 58 years, Mary (née Hill) Picott; his three children, Philip J. Picott, Allison (Michael Goldstein) Picott, and Andrea (Josh Sternfeld) Picott; granddaughter, Margaux Stern- feld; his brother, Theodore Picott; and a host of other family and friends.
Dorrin D. Rolle (Alpha Xi 1966) entered the Chapter Invis- ible on April 19, 2020. The third of fourth children,
Brother William C. Picott, III (Alpha Phi 1959) entered the Chapter Invis- ible peacefully on Sept. 3, 2020, from COVID-19-related
Dorrin Delano Rolle was born
complications. Born in Hamp-
on January 14, 1945, to Samuel E., Sr. and Mae Pearl Rolle. After graduat- ing in 1962 from Miami Northwestern Senior High, he attended Florida A &M University and earned a BA degree in el- ementary education. In 1973, he earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Northern Colorado. He started his career as a social worker at the James E. Scott Community As- sociation (JESCA). Afterward, he served as Director of the Ex-Offenders Services Program for Miami-Dade County. He was responsible for the overall opera- tion and management of three halfway houses for ex-offenders, two for men and one for women and their children. Rolle help establish the Roving Leaders Alternative Education Center, an alter- native school in the Liberty City area of Miami, FL. Rolle later established an innovative program that offered training and employment to youth. The program succeeded in motivating young people to stay in school and helped develop their self-esteem. In 1998, Florida Governor Lawton Chiles appointed Rolle to the Miami- Dade Board of County Commissioners to represent the more than 102,000 resi- dents of District 2 comprised of Liberty City, Opa-Locka, North Miami, Miami Shores, El Portal, and North Miami Beach. He also served as President and CEO of JESCA and the Miami-Dade County Economic Development and Housing Committee Chairman. A past polemarch of the Miami (FL) Alumni Chapter, Rolle was active in the Miami-Dade County community. He was a member of the Public Health
ton, VA, on Oct. 9, 1939, to William C. Picott Jr. and Dorothy (née Bright) Picott, Picott graduated from Hunting- ton High School in Newport News, VA in 1957. Picott began his freshman year at the University of Kansas, where he met Mu Chapter members Wilt Cham- berlain and Don Cheadle Sr. Picott acted as Wilt Chamberlain’s first press agent. He transferred to Virginia State and earned a B.A. degree in business ad- ministration and industrial management from Virginia State University (VSU) in 1962, where he was vice president of the student government and served as Alpha Phi polemarch. While at VSU, He enrolled in the ROTC program. and, upon graduation, received his com- mission as a second lieutenant. After graduating and receiving a com- mission as a U.S. Army second lieuten- ant, Picott served in Vietnam from 1963 to 1964 with responsibility to commu- nicate critical news events to the U.S. press corps. Late one night in Saigon, he witnessed U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge surreptitiously leaving by car ahead of what is now known as the 1963 South Vietnamese coup d’état. Picott immediately radioed back to the States to officially report the event. Upon his safe return from Vietnam, Bill began a career in computer technology and management in the Greater Phila- delphia area. He remained an active member of the U.S. Army Reserves and retired with the rank of captain.
Picott subsequently earned a MBA degree in management from Central
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