O. C. Pleasant Jr., former chairman of the Shelby County Election Commission and a Memphis Branch NAACP stalwart, passed away on Sunday.
Pleasant served on the commission for 30 years.
For many, Ocie C. “O.C.” Pleasant Jr. was the quintessential chairman of the Election Commission. He served from 1979 to 2009 and was chairman of that election-administering body for 24 of those 30 years.
“He was like a fixture,” Shelby County Election Commissioner Norma Lester said of Mr. Pleasant. “He loved it (serving on the commission)…It (his tenure) wasn’t without controversy, but he took the complaints in stride.
“He was a gentleman and he also maintained composure.”
Mr. Pleasant served longer than any other commissioner and did so with honor and integrity, said said Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Robert Myers.
“The death of O.C. Pleasant Jr is one that is felt acutely by all the current and past members…,” Myers said. “I became a commissioner in 2008 and had the pleasure of working with him during his final year as chairman. His longstanding service to the voters of Shelby County is a shining beacon of civic duty.”
Mr. Pleasant, who passed while at Methodist Hospital Sunday afternoon, chaired the Memphis Branch NAACP’s political action commission for many years and “was responsible for leading the branch in strategy,” said Memphis Branch NAACP President Deidre Malone.
“He had a keen interest in politics.”
Coleman Thompson said he was at Methodist Hospital on Sunday and that Mr. Pleasant passed about two hours after he left for a meeting. He said Mr. Pleasant had been ill for quite a while.
“I’ve known O.C. almost 40 years. …He’s been a blessing, a big-brother type person,” Thompson said, noting that Pleasant’s long association with the NAACP included having served as first vice president.
“He was very knowledgeable (and) strong willed,” Thompson said. “He knew his facts.”
For Mr. Pleasant, “it was about the issues,” Thompson said, recalling him saying, “It’s not about you. …It’s about what we can do for the community, the bulk of the community….
“He felt like there was a lot more that should be done in this town. And time just ran out on him.”
Over the course of his public career and private life, Mr. Pleasant served as board chairman of Family Home Health Agency and the Orange Mound Development Corporation and was past chairman of the Memphis Health Center Board of Governors. He founded the O. C. Pleasant Insurance Agency.
Born in Montgomery, Ala., he earned a BS in Secondary Education from Alabama State University in 1962 and a MS in Mathematics and Curriculum and Instruction from Memphis State University in 1968. While teaching in Memphis City Schools, he completed graduate studies at several Midwestern universities.
A communicant of St. John Catholic Church, he was a member of the Executive Committee and Political Action Committee of the Memphis Branch NAACP as well as a member and past president of the Memphis Alumni Chapter and a regional president of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.
He was married to Barbara King and the father of Darryl and the late Chandra.
Among his many accolades, Mr. Pleasant was part of The New Tri-Defender’s 2009 Men of Excellence class.
