The Rev. Deborah McGill-Jackson ’76 of Newport News, Va., who died Sept. 25 from complications of a stroke, was an author, educator, and preacher. She was one of 14 women at Brown who chartered the Iota Alpha Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in 1974 and would go on to work at its corporate office, as well as pursuing legal studies at DePaul University Law School and Indiana University School of Law, before she answered the call to the ministry. She earned a master of divinity with distinction in worship and administration from the school of theology at Virginia Union University, becoming ordained in January, 1982. As a chaplain, she ministered in various settings that included seven universities, two seminaries, and the Women’s Correctional Center (Va.). She taught courses in history, the humanities, political science, sociology, English, and world religions. She was a noted author and preacher and was included in Those Preachin’ Women: Sermons by Black Women Preachers. In 2014, she was honored by Hampton University Ministers’ Conference (HUMC) as a woman in ministry founder. She was instrumental in forging the way for women participating in the conference when she was the first woman permitted to participate in a public capacity in 1981. The honor was bestowed on her by former United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Dr. Suzanne Cook-Johnson, the first president of the HUMC. During the last year of her life she celebrated her 50 years of service to Alpha Kappa Alpha by attending Brown’s Black Alumni Weekend and at the Iota Alpha chapter’s chartering anniversary weekend, where she was given the distinction of being a golden soror and received her flowers for being a charter member of the chapter. Before retiring in 2019, she served as an assistant professor in the College of Education and Continuing Studies and as the assistant university chaplain of Memorial Church at Hampton University. McGill-Jackson served on the board of the Peninsula Head Start Program, Aberdeen Gardens Historic Foundation, and other academic and civic organizations. Additionally, she spent several years teaching religion and history at Norfolk State University and social science courses at Strayer University, and was affiliated with several churches. She is survived by a daughter, a son and daughter-in-law, four granddaughters, a sister and brother-in-law, a sister-in-law, and several nieces and nephews.