Dr. Johnnie Hines Watts Prothro recognized talent when she saw it.
While teaching nutrition classes at Tuskegee University in Alabama in the 1960s, Dr. Prothro approached a second-year masters program student to give her a nudge of encouragement.
"She just said to me one day, 'You are Ph.D. material,' " said former student Bernadine Tolbert. "It sort of stuck with me, and it didn't take long until I made the application."
Many students like Dr. Tolbert were encouraged and inspired by Dr. Prothro, one of the first African-American female scientists in the field of food chemistry and nutrition. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter, she was the first woman and the first African-American named to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development, or BIFAD.
Dr. Prothro, 87, died of cancer Saturday at her home in Decatur.
Her daughter, Dee Watts-Jones, said she "believed that you could accomplish whatever you put your mind to."
Dr. Prothro was born into the segregated South on Feb. 26, 1922, in Atlanta, but her parents emphasized the importance of education early on. She graduated high school at age 15, studied at Spelman College and then went to Columbia University because Georgia State University did not enroll black students at the time, her daughter said.
She obtained a Ph.D from the University of Chicago. During an extensive career as a professor and researcher, Dr. Prothro taught at Southern University, Tuskegee, University of Connecticut, Emory University and Georgia State.
Dr. Tolbert said many students respected Dr. Prothro as a "great teacher and trainer" who had "absolute integrity in collecting and publishing her research."
Dr. Prothro's loved ones knew little about her time on BIFAD, except that it required extensive international travel. She visited Zimbabwe and several West African countries as a member of the board, said Dr. Tolbert, who maintained a clsoe friendship over the years.
Dr. Prothro lived through the racial tensions surrounding the civil rights movement. Ms. Watts-Jones said that a train conductor once spat on her mother for sitting in the whites-only section when the "colored" section was full. She feared for her safety when desegregation began to be implemented in Alabama, so she left tumultuous Tuskegee for the University of Conneticut.
It was in Connecticut that Dr. Prothro met and married her husband of 30 years, Charles E. Prothro Jr. After her daughter graduated high school, the couple moved back to Atlanta.
Dr. Prothro retired from Georgia State in 1989 and immediately dove into cultural activity, volunteerism and exercise. She woke at 4:30 every morning except Sunday to walk three miles in the park near her house, Dr. Tolbert said. She enjoyed the theater, tended her flower beds and spent several hours a day at the public library reading for leisure.
Dr. Prothro also volunteered with various local charities feeding the homeless, delivering meals to shut-ins and offering financial counseling.
Her husband died in 1999.
In addition to her daughter, survivors include a granddaughter, Mandisa-Maia Jones Haywood; a grandson, Mandela A. Jones; sons-in-law, Anthony Haywood and Richard Jones; cousin, Bertha Fitzgerald; and friend, Rev. Charles Black.
The family will have private services. Lincoln Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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