Former school principal Leon Herndon dies. He broke racial barriers in Wake County.

Leon Herndon, a retired Wake County principal who helped break racial educational barriers, has died.

Herndon, 84, died Thursday at his home in Cary. His long educational career, according to his family, included becoming the first Black principal of an integrated high school in Wake County in 1972.

“He was a man of really high character, high integrity,” Linwood Herndon, his son, said in an interview Monday. “He believed in living a sermon instead of speaking a sermon.”

Born in Apex, Herndon attended segregated schools in Chatham County.

Herndon started his educational career as a high school science teacher in Robeson County. He returned to the Triangle to teach science at Ligon High School in Raleigh and later at Enloe High School in Raleigh.

In 1972, he made history at Enloe by becoming the first Black principal of a predominately white high school in Wake County.

In 1983, his family says Herndon made history again by becoming the first Black principal of Apex High. He later served as principal of Carroll Middle School in Raleigh until his retirement in 2001.

Following his retirement, Herndon joined his wife, Shirley, in founding Bright Beginnings Child Development Center in Cary. The five-star preschool has been visited multiple times over the years by Gov. Roy Cooper when he’s announced new early childhood initiatives.

In memory of Herndon, his family is welcoming donations to the White Oak Foundation, Inc.