Tony Major

Memorial from June, 2019

Anthony “Tony” Major, associate professor of film at UCF, left behind an extensive legacy after passing at the age of 79. After 24 years at UCF, Major touched many lives, and made a great impact on the univeresity’s theatre, film, as well as faculty and staff organizations.

Major had been compared to the likes of reverend John T. Washington, Ph.D, a man who was one of the first African Americans to hold a faculty position at UCF, from the mid-1970s to early 1980s, and who mentored many students, taking them under his wing.

During a time in history when there were rampant racial injustices, Washington was a selfless leader who dedicated his life to standing up for others. He had a positive impact on every person he met. Major, many say, was much the same.

“He was far more than just a teacher here at UCF,” said Martha Stewart, professor in the college of education at UCF for more than 34 years. “He was an advocate. He was the one who kept the mission of John T. Washington alive. Now, for those of us that remain, the work goes on, the cause endures. The hope still lives. And the dream shall never die.”

Major received his bachelor’s degree in theatre from Hofstra University and an MFA in film and television from New York University. He joined UCF in 1995 as a member of the theatre department, which later became part of the film department. Major was also program director for the Zora Neale Hurston Institute for Documentary Studies and director of the interdisciplinary Africana Studies program, housed within the College of Arts and Humanities.

“Tony changed the face of theatre UCF,” said College of Arts and Humanities Associate Dean Lyman Brodie. – UCF Memorial