Elias Blake Jr., 77; ex-college president, advocate for blacks

ATLANTA -- Elias Blake Jr., a leading advocate for blacks in higher education and a former president of Atlanta's Clark College, has died at 77, his friends said.

He was found dead Sunday, apparently of natural causes, at his home in Washington, said Tola Thompson, a friend.

Dr. Blake in the 1960s helped create Upward Bound, the federal program aimed at recruiting low-income and first-generation college students. He became the program's Southeast deputy director, guiding its efforts on 15 campuses.

In the 1970s he became president of the Institute for Services to Education, a policy group that helped develop programs for colleges to attract and retain black students. He advised Presidents Nixon and Carter on the needs of blacks in higher education.