We are honoring Cheryl Hickmon as our Umoja Season Community Ancestor. Her service through many organizations that serve the National community is an example of how developing Umoja, Unity, is the result of the committed work of weaving people together. Our community has been elevated through her life’s work.
National President Cheryl Hickmon was a devoted member of
Delta Sigma Theta since 1982 (Facebook)
Cheryl A. Hickmon, a beloved native of Hartford, Connecticut, was born on May 11, 1962, to the late Dr. Ned Hickmon and Consuella Anderson Hickmon. Hickmon was elected president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated on Nov. 21, 2021 at the 55th national convention held in Atlanta, GA. Hickmon, a beloved and celebrated member, served the organization for 39 years. The Connecticut native was initiated into the Alpha Xi Chapter at South Carolina State University in 1982 and was an active member of the Hartford (Conn.) Alumnae Chapter.
President Hickmon was a devoted member of Delta Sigma Theta since 1982 and served in various capacities at the chapter, regional, and national level before being elected National President. Some of the positions include: National First Vice President, National Secretary, Eastern Regional Director, South Atlantic Regional Representative, Chair of the National Scholarship and Standards Committee, Co-Chair of the National Leadership Academy, and Co-Chair of the National Documents Review and Revision Task Force and chapter president of the Hartford Alumnae and Alpha Xi Chapter.
Professionally, she was a licensed Clinical Laboratory Technologist and supervised the In Vitro Fertilization Laboratories for Andrology and Endocrinology at Montefiore’s Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Health, a division of the Montefiore Medical Center and a teaching hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She worked for the Laboratory for more than 30 years. Cheryl was highly skilled and experienced in the specialties of Andrology and Endocrinology and stated that one of her greatest joys was assisting couples with the gift of children.
Outside of her leadership in Delta, Hickmon served with the Children’s Defense Fund movement – The Daughters of Tubman Sisters of Truth under the leadership of Children’s Defense Fund Founder, Marian Wright Edelman. Additionally, she was an avid skier, a member of the National Brotherhood of Skiers, and a founding member of the Thrillseekers, Inc. Ski and Adventure Club of New York. She was a member of the National Council of Negro Women, the NAACP and St. Monica’s Episcopal Church.
She was the recipient of numerous awards and honors throughout her life, including Outstanding Accomplishments and Achievement Award from South Carolina State and the “100 Most Influential African Americans in the State of Connecticut” by the Connecticut Chapters of the NAACP, and the Citizen of the Year Award from Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. (Tau Iota Chapter). She is remembered not only for her role as a leader but for being a colleague, friend, and most of all, sister.
She had a thirst for life and lived her life by the motto "Don’t measure life by the number of breaths you take ... but by the number of moments that take your breath away.”