Harold Edward Dent Of Alexandria, Virginia, Dies November 20

Harold Edward Dent, Ph.D died on Saturday, November 20, at his home in Alexandria, Virginia. Dent was born on Long Island on August 4, 1928. He was 93.

Dent was raised on the Shinnecock Indian Nation tribal lands and in Manhattan, with his sisters, Mildred Dent Osorio and Dorothy Dent Williams. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School, following a three-year tour with the U.S. Army. In 1953, he completed his undergraduate degree in psychology at New York University.

In 1955, Dent attained his master’s degree in clinical psychology at the University of Denver. In 1958, he married Beverly Brown. They later had twin daughters, Lynne and Leslie. Dent worked as a clinical psychologist in a training program for the mentally retarded.

In 1966, he received his Ph.D in clinical and counseling psychology from the University of Hawaii. Returning to San Francisco, he joined the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and thereafter joined the Berkeley Unified School District as coordinator for pupil personnel services.

Dent, along with a group of Black psychologists from the Bay Area, founded the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) in 1968. As part of a team of Black psychologists, Dent assisted counsel for Angela Davis in the jury selection process at her trial in 1972, and led the fight against the use of IQ tests to place minority students in special education classes that ultimately became the landmark Larry P. case (Larry P. v. Riles, 793 F.2d 969 (9th Cir. 1984)).

Dent joined and led the WestSide Community Mental Health Center, advocating and working for the establishment of urban community mental health programs and workshops in San Francisco. Later, he partnered with a team of psychologists to form Psychological and Human Resources Consultants 
(PHRC), consulting on civil rights and affirmative action matters within the African American community. Dent accepted a role at Hampton University, in Hampton, Virginia as director of outreach at the Center for Minority Special Education.

In 1993, he married Joanne Whaley. In 1998, Dent returned to his tribal home on the Shinnecock Indian Territory to become the first administrator of the Shinnecock Health Services and consultant to the Tribal Trustees.

Dent was a proud member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and founding member of ABPsi. He cherished his roles as son, uncle, brother, husband to his wife Joanne, father to his daughters Leslie and Lynne (Christopher) and grandfather to his grandchildren Jillian (Kavon), Hunter (Gracie), Maxwell and Drew.