Thomas W. Cole Jr., the founding president of Clark Atlanta University, was laid to rest Monday afternoon on campus. Cole was the point person of the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University in 1988. He then led the university through 2002. Cole, 81, was remembered during a service at Cascade United Methodist Church as a man who strongly believed in the mission of historically Black universities like Clark Atlanta to educating young people and improving local communities. The university’s current president, George T. French Jr., called the campus interment the “ultimate display of our affection” for Cole.