By Eugene Watkins
Phi Lambda honors Bro. Joseph Merrick Sansom (Phi Lambda, ‘69) for his lifelong dedication to community service, which began in his youth with a memorable experience in Durham.
At just six years old, he witnessed a stark contrast between wealth and poverty, seeing a luxurious car and a large TV in a home where a baby slept in a cardboard box. Now at 81, Bro. Sansom, a retired executive, reflects on how this moment shaped his core values of faith, family, and community. His career as a fiscal analyst at IBM and a leader at Mechanics & Farmers Bank has been rooted in sound financial practices, yet he actively contributes to causes like economic development in Southeast Raleigh and the annual Martin Luther King Day memorial.
As the first African-American deputy state treasurer, he remains politically active and has partnered with the YMCA of the Triangle to create a new branch in Southeast Raleigh, offering affordable housing and grocery options.
Bro. Sansom was raised in a family deeply committed to community service. His father, Phi Lambda Bro. J.J. Sansom (Alpha Rho, ‘35), served as president of Mechanics and Farmers Bank, established in 1907 by African American entrepreneurs in Durham, historically recognized as “Black Wall Street.” Bro. J.J. Sansom, who transitioned to the omega chapter in 1989, was also an active advocate for civil rights.
Growing up in Durham, Bro. Joseph M. Sansom attended Hillside High School, a segregated institution for African American students at the time. At 16, his family relocated to Raleigh, where he enrolled in a Catholic school located at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Reflecting on this transition, Sansom noted that the nuns were believed to provide him with the discipline he needed.
He later pursued his education at Morehouse College in Atlanta, focusing on business and finance. Upon graduation, he joined IBM, which had recently established operations in the Triangle area. His career there spanned 25 years, interrupted briefly by military service during the Vietnam War, where he was drafted into a significant accounting position. He humorously remarked on the power of his role, stating, “No one wanted to mess with me because I wrote the checks.”
Bro. Sansom has maintained a strong connection to Mechanics and Farmers Bank, where he worked as a teller and bookkeeper during his college years. He jokingly claims to be among the few board members with actual experience at the bank. In the 1980s, he was elected as a director and currently as chairman oversees its Raleigh operations, ensuring the bank’s profitability while upholding its core values, a legacy that has endured for over a century. While his involvement with the bank is a vital aspect of his family heritage, it represents just one of many relationships he has cultivated with key community stakeholders, each holding its own importance.
Bro. Sansom is also deeply involved with various organizations, including the Salvation Army, Wake County Schools’ leadership academies, and Shaw University. He humorously shares his attempts to convey his pride as a Morehouse graduate, despite his wife attending Shaw and his mother teaching there. As a member of Shaw’s board of trustees, he has played a key role in initiatives such as securing a new transmitter for the university’s radio station and introducing its new president to the community. Furthermore, he has reached out to St. Augustine’s College, expressing his commitment to supporting historically black institutions during tough times.
Let’s all celebrate Bro. Sansom! An exemplary Alpha man who represents our values and serves our communities.
