Longtime South Bay community activist Tommy James Fulcher Jr., a local businessman and leader in the African American community, died on January 28 at the age of 75.
Fulcher was a past president of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and became the first African American to head the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.
“We all stand on the shoulders of great civil rights leaders like Tommy who have paved the path for respect, dignity and fairness for African-Americans and all people of color in this community,” said Pastor Jethroe Moore II, president of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP, in a news release Monday.
Fulcher was also the CEO of Economic and Social Opportunities, a leading anti-poverty nonprofit focused on community development and helping low-income individuals become self-sufficient, for two decades before the organization filed for bankruptcy in 2007.
He was also an active community volunteer who served on nearly two dozen boards and commissions in Santa Clara County, including the Planning Commission, Airports Commission, Good Samaritan Medical Foundation, San Jose Police Chief Advisory Committee and Boy Scouts of America.
Fulcher was born on May 11, 1944 in Oklahoma City, the second of ten children. His family moved to the San Diego area when he was two years old, and by age 12 was “thrust into the role of caregiver for his siblings,” according to an online obituary for Fulcher on Californiacremation.com, stealing vegetables from local gardens to feed his siblings. He and his siblings were later placed in a Children’s Home after a neighbor called social services, until their aunt took custody a year later.
At 16, Fulcher “ran afoul of the law” after returning to Oklahoma City, and enlisted in the Army at the behest of a judge, according to the obituary. He later went on to serve in the Vietnam War as a company commander, earning two Bronze Star medals, and was honorably discharged at 24 due to an injury.
After leaving the military, Fulcher earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and a Masters of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
“Tommy overcame tremendous adversity but went on to make a positive difference in the lives of those in need here in Santa Clara County,” said San Jose Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. “He will be greatly missed in our community and by the wonderful family he loved so much.”
After graduating from Harvard, he taught at the City College of New York, led a non-profit that helped transition female convicts to civilian life, and later moved to Washington, D.C., where he met his second wife, Gail, who he married in 1980.
Fulcher, his wife and two sons moved to San Jose in 1981, when he took over as CEO at Economic and Social Opportunities.
Fulcher is survived by his wife Gail, sons Anthony, Paul and Tommy III and their partners, Christine, Norma and Elena; as well as six siblings and a host of grand children and great-grandchildren.
Fulcher’s family has requested that, instead of flowers, donations be made to the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP to establish a scholarship fund in his name.
Private services will be held in San Diego on February 12. His family is planning a public memorial in San Jose, which will be announced on a memorial Facebook page set up by his family.