Dr. Edward Robinson Jr. is among the most recent to pass. Photo provided by the Africana Studies Department
Update – Tues., 4/13 at 7 p.m.
This story has been updated to include a fourth faculty member’s passing, Tonie Mills.
By Taylor Helmes, Editor in Chief
Over the winter break, we lost five faculty and staff members. In recent weeks, we have lost four more members of the California State University, Dominguez Hills community.
Tonie Mills, previously a Student Services Center Director for the College of Health, Human Services and Nursing, Julia Bogany, a Tongva tribe elder, Corporal Andrew Lyons from the University Police Department, and Dr. Edward Robinson Jr., a professor for Africana Studies, all passed away last month.
Tonie Mills
Academic Affairs announced on April 13 in an email that Tonie Mills, 65, had passed away on March 8 due to complications from Covid-19. Mills joined CSUDH in 1997 and served as the Student Services Center Director for the College of Health, Human Services, and Nursing until 2015. She was a part of developing the advising practices they continue to use today, even through Zoom and remote learning.
Matt Kerr, Student Adviser to the CHHSN, admired her leadership and commitment to the college. “She was very invested in making sure the Center served our students,” he said in the email.
A service for Mills will be on April 15 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Hilary Catholic Church, followed by a burial at Rose Hills at 11 a.m.. Masks will be enforced for those who attend.
Julia Bogany
On March 24, Julia Bogany, a Tongva elder, and ambassador for the Tongva tribe who spent 30 years teaching children and adults about her language, culture, and history, passed away.
Bogany, who suffered a major stroke on March 7, was an educator, cultural ambassador, Indigenous Native American advocate, artist, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
Bogany is featured in one of the murals outside the new Student Housing complex, titled, “Lessons From Wise Woman.”
Jimi Castillo, Tongva Spiritual Leader, has been making “Going Home prayers” for her, according to a March 29 email from Cheryl McKnight, director of the Center for Service Learning, Internships, and Civic Engagement, notifying faculty about her passing. A GoFundMe was created initially to help financially support her after her stroke but has since been updated with her passing.
According to the fundraiser information, Bogany will be laid to rest on April 17 at 10 a.m., followed by a burial at 11:15 at Mt. View Mortuary & Cemetery. Due to Covid-19 restrictions and health guidelines, only 65 people are allowed inside the chapel, with family taking priority. Anyone arriving after maximum capacity has been met is welcome to wait outside or by the burial site.
Cpl. Andrew Lyons
On March 26, CSUDH Cpl. Lyons, 34, a 14-year veteran of the force, passed. No cause of death has been announced by the university, according to Amy Bentley-Smith, the CSUDH Director of Communications and Public Affairs, at the request of the family.
However, the Statewide University Police Association posted to Facebook on April 1 a link to a fundraiser, that states Lyons died from Covid-19 related complications. Yolanda Abundiz, president of the association and creator of the fundraiser, said in an April 6 email to the Bulletin that she based that information on a social media post by the Calipatria Police Department, where Lyons previously served. She said she then verified this information with a “reliable source.”
He is survived by his 1-year-old son, his girlfriend, mother, family, close friends, and colleagues.
Lyons has been part of the CSUDH community as a police officer, but he also served on the Health and Safety committee. Lyons was honored in November 2019 by the Division of Administration and Finance for five years of “commitment and support.” President Thomas A. Parham, along with Chief of University Police, Carlos Velez, expressed condolences and honored his service.
“As we honor his dedication and service to the DH campus and the State to keep us safe, I ask all members in the TORO NATION to keep him and his family in your prayers,” Parham wrote in a March 27 tweet. “Gone too soon.”
“Andrew had been a valued member of our team and will be greatly missed,” Velez wrote in a March 30 email.
Amy Bentley-Smith wrote in an April 5 email that Lyons, “was a valued member of our campus community and will be greatly missed by his fellow officers and others he worked with at CSUDH. The university mourns his loss.”
Bentley-Smith and the university did not confirm the cause of death and will not release that information at the request of the family.
Abundiz kickstarted a Fund A Hero fundraiser to raise money for Lyons’ family, “to ease the financial burden that comes with losing a loved one,” with the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) who will give 100% of the proceeds to the family.
Funeral or memorial services have not been publicly announced at this time.
Most recently, on March 31, Dr. Edward Robinson Jr., an Africana Studies lecturer at CSUDH since 2013, passed away suddenly at the Coffee Regional Medical Center in Douglas, Ga., leaving behind his mother, siblings, family, friends, and past colleagues and students.
Dr. Edward Robinson Jr.
Robinson was described as a brother and friend in the “tight-knit” department, described by Dr. Donna Nicol in an April 1 email sent on behalf of the Africana Studies department. He represented the LGBTQ+ community, was an active scholar and teacher and will be missed by many. He has taught at CSUDH in both the Africana Studies Department and Humanities Program.
In 2017, Robinson was awarded a travel grant from the College of Arts and Humanities, Nicol said in the email. This award helped support a trip to Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany to present a paper he wrote titled, “Expanding the Power of the Black Lives Matter Movement Beyond American Borders.”
Robinson’s interest in research encompassed the history and culture surrounding Africana studies. He was in the process of proposing his book, “Indignant Dignity: Black Lives Matter in Early Black Writing,” to the University of North Carolina Press at the time of his passing.
“His bright smile, kind soul and infectious laugh will be sorely missed but never forgotten,” Dr. Donna Nicol wrote in the email. “Pumzika kwa amani kaka (Rest in Peace Brother).”
“He was such a gentle, decent soul who cared about his students and his craft of teaching,” Miguel Domínguez, a professor in the modern languages department, wrote in an email. “The third floor of LCH has another void. I will very much miss his optimism, welcoming personality, and sense of social justice, as well as our conversations interlaced with laughter.”
Domínguez added: “I last saw Edward in March before we went to distance teaching. I should have given him a hug.”
Robinson earned his bachelor’s degree in history and sociology from Georgia State University, then continued his education at the University of Utah where he received a master’s degree in American studies in 2011. He topped off his college career at Claremont Graduate University where he achieved his Ph.D. in cultural studies and specialized in African American literature and media studies.
Robinson’s service will be held in Broxton, Ga. on April 3 at 11 a.m. EST. You can virtually attend his live service on McIver’s Funeral Home’s Facebook page.
