Central in Our Lives

RALPH BRODIE

Ralph graduated from Central High School in 1958 ranked 33rd in a class of 603 graduates. He was student body president during the 1957-58 school year. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville on a track scholarship and was student body president there in 1962-63. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering in 1963 and earned a Juris Doctorate law degree in 1966.

    He later attended New York University where he received a Master of Laws (in taxation) degree in 1973.

    Ralph was inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Arkansas Academy of Industrial Engineers in 2005. He continues to live in Little Rock where he is an estate planning and tax attorney.

    He served as a member of the City of Little Rock's 50th Anniversary Commission on the Desegregation of Little Rock Central High.

MARVIN SCHWARTZ

Marvin is a New York native who has lived in Arkansas since 1971. He has a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Arkansas.    

    He has worked as a journalist, speechwriter, grants writer, director of nonprofit organizations, and instructor of English and creative writing in the U.S. and overseas.

    He is the author of seven previously published books, primarily nonfiction works of

Arkansas history, and numerous magazine articles.     His 1988 book In Service to America: A History of VISTA in Arkansas was a American Library Association Notable Book that year. His writings have addressed a range of Arkansas public sector issues - rural development, community history and culture, civil rights, and education – areas that directly impact the quality of life.

    Marvin also has been active in promoting Holocaust education in Arkansas schools, and he is a five-time U.S. Masters Swimming national champion.

    He is currently working a book on the history of Arkansas rockabilly music.