The Wicomico Democratic Club’s President’s Award recognizes someone who has made outstanding lifetime contributions to the community. The individual is a behind-the-scenes political operative who has been crucial to the election of Wicomico Democrats.

This year’s recipient is Dr. Eddie Boyd, Jr., a Louisiana native who earned an undergraduate degree from Grambling State University and a doctorate from Oklahoma State University. He moved to Wicomico County in the 1980s and worked for many years at University of Maryland Eastern Shore in the Mathematics Department, eventually retiring as the Dean of the School of Business and Technology.

Education, always at the center of his universe, led him to run and win election to the Wicomico County Board of Education, where he analyzed and voiced concerns for the needs of some 14,000 students. A firm belief that equality and opportunity in housing is the strength of a community led him to serving as a member of the Salisbury Neighborhood Housing Association and the Wicomico County Branch of the NAACP.

Since 2006, he has served as campaign treasurer for Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes. He has never left her side as her political career began on the Wicomico County Council and ascended to the Maryland House of Delegates.

He has tirelessly answered the community’s call: the Wicomico County Redistricting Committee, advocacy at West Salisbury Elementary School, United Methodist Men’s ministry and many others. He is a lifelong member of Wesley Temple United Methodist Church in Salisbury, where he and his beautiful wife Rosalind reared their three children, Anna, Faith and Theo. He somehow finds times for hobbies that include listening to jazz music, walking, yard work and Sudoku.

Previous President’s Award recipients are Mike Pretl, Lee Whaley, Harry Basehart, Connie Strott, and J.C and Henrietta Parker.