Celebrating the life of John Jeffrey Tucker , Founder of Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center

John Jeffrey Tucker I Founder of Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center May 10, 1945 - March 22, 2025 John Jeffrey Tucker I, (Jeff) was born on May 10th,1945 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to William Augustus Tucker and Gussie Mae White Tucker. He passed away on March 22nd 2025 in Sacramento, California. Growing up in Milwaukee as a black person in the 1940’s was very rough for black people and he and his older brother Barry Tucker faced rampant racism in his early years that would shape his life forever. And lead him to his purpose in life of helping others and his community. In 1959 his Father got a job as a journeyman machinist at Boeing Aircraft Company and his family moved to Seattle, Washington. They moved into the Central District of Seattle , which was the Black community at that time and he attended Meany Middle school and graduated from Garfield High School in 1963. At Garfield he played football and Baseball and at that time it was an amazing school as they were state champs in many sports. He received a scholarship to all white Whitworth College in Football as a running back and cornerback. He also excelled in his studies where he majored in business and history. Jeff also enjoyed expressing himself through the theatrical arts as a lead actor and pledged as Alpha Phi Alpha. While at Whitworth College, Jeff noticed that black people were being treated as tokens on campus and he then started recruiting more black students to tour the university.He also founded and chaired the Human Relations Committee, a group similar to today's Black Student Union. In 1965, Jeff had his first two children Keith and Kenny and in 1967 he had his last son Jeff II. Then in 1967 after graduating from Whitworth college Jeff came back to Seattle. He was recruited by Walter Hundley who heard him speak at Whitworth to come to work at the “the Model Cities program”, which was aimed to revitalize urban areas and improve the lives of residents in impoverished neighborhoods. Jeff also pursued his acting passions in the Madrona area performing at Black Arts West. While working at the model cities program his boss Judge Charles Johnson asked Jeff to come up with a program for inner city youths. Jeff organized community meetings to get ideas for new programs but Jeff also knew that the black community needed its own gathering place. At one of those meetings architect LLyod Bridges suggested that the synagogue named “Chevra Bikur Cholim” on 17th and Yesler would be a good place for the black community to have its own meeting place. This was the impetus for Jeff to come up with the idea of creating a theatrical arts program in that building. He wrote the business plan, negotiated with the rabbi’s, and implemented the plan that turned into “Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center”. The center has served and helped many thousands of young and elderly people for over 50 years. Jeff attended Smith College, in Northampton, Mass.where he earned a MFA in theater. While at Smith, he founded the black theater workshop, which featured black students performing plays written by african americans. Jeff spent the next few years working in various acting, teaching and supervising positions at institutions including Tufts University, in Massachusetts, and Lincoln University, in Pennsylvania. In the mid 1970’s he moved to Oakland, California where he had two more children Jasmine and Ruby. He continued his education at the University of California, Berkeley, Jeff then became the general manager of the Oakland Ballet and helped the ballet regain its financial footing. Jeff also worked for the office of economic development for the city of oakland, california. Jeff concluded his career at American River College, in Sacramento, Calif, working as dean of arts for nearly a decade before devoting his time to teaching; he retired in 2007. While enjoying retirement Jeff’s health began to decline and he faced several serious health challenges. His wife Gwen was there for him the entire time. She effortlessly oversaw his doctor's appointments and all emergency procedures until his passing in Sacramento, California.

Services were held April 09, 2025