The gift from Tim Cobb '86, chairman and CEO of edaflow Corp., supports the center's programs and names the new building's 400-seat theater for Harold J. Cobb Sr., a retired Baptist minister in Durham. The theater will host performances, large lectures and public events sponsored by the center and by other campus groups.

"It is appropriate that this very public space in the center carry Dr. Cobb's name," Chancellor James Moeser said. "He instilled in his sons a love of learning and a passion for service, and he has served our state as a minister and a community leader."

Tim Cobb, a Durham native, said naming the Stone Center's theater after his father is a tribute to those values his father brought to his community and his children. Cobb Sr. was a leader in Burlington's civil rights movement who spent most of his professional career ministering and educating in his community.

"At a time when most folks are thinking about retiring, he started a new church in Durham," Tim Cobb said. "It's a center for the community and for worship, it has a college extension program, and the city uses it for health services. It's the culmination of his idea for what a church can be."

Cobb said his father instilled in him an understanding of the importance of education. "One of the strongest values he passed on to me is the value of education," he said. "He encouraged me to think very broadly about the world."

The younger Cobb graduated from UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School in 1986 and earned a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989. He and business partner Jeff Levy established an internet company that measured web site audiences and became known as the Nielsen of internet. He now heads edaflow Corporation, an e-commerce venture serving the apparel industry.

The Stone Center offers academic programs and activities for all students. It is one of the nation's leading centers for research, teaching, learning and public service related to black history and culture. The center sponsors activities including conferences, lectures and outreach programs.

Besides the Dr. Harold J. Cobb Sr. Theater, the new 44,500 square-foot, $9 million building, funded entirely with private gifts, will house seminar rooms, classrooms, a 10,000-volume specialized library, an art gallery, a dance studio, a multipurpose room for performances, lectures and meetings, and office suites for the Upward Bound program, the Institute of African American Research and the Stone Center. Construction is expected to be completed in 2003. 

Kyle York '94 

Visit the Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center at www.unc.edu/depts/bcc/

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