I was sad to hear of Benny Napoleon's passing of the coronovirus. As I was reading all the news articles and hearing on the radio other people's memories about his time with the police department and their own personal relationships with him, I thought about my own encounters with him. While he was a student at Mercy College of Detroit (now University of Detroit Mercy), he would come into the library to get articles for his papers. At the time we had closed off the periodical section, so everyone had to fill out a request slip for any item they needed to see. Even with the brief times I had with him to help get the journals, he was such a happy, easy going person that you immediately liked him. I must of helped hundreds of students get journals, but I remember almost none of them, but Benny is one of the few students that I can remember by name and face! He was just such a nice person and one of my most unforgettable person I had ever met, even though it was for just a few minutes at a time.

RIP Benny Napoleon

Pat Higo, Archives, Special Collections Librarian