Obituary
Dr. Barbara E.M. Cannon, 82
Dr. Cannon was raised in Big Sandy, Texas, population of less than 600. Her first formal music lesson began when she was 10 and was transported to Jarvis Christian College, 22 miles away. Dr. Cannon received a B.A. and M.A. majoring in Instrumental Music from San Francisco State.
Dr. Cannon taught French, band, orchestra and choral music for several years in the Berkeley Public School System. She was awarded a sabbatical year to pursue French pedagogy at the Sorbonne (University of Paris). She was awarded a second fellowship to develop music curriculum at the University of Ghana, West Africa.
She received her doctorate from Stanford University in Administration and Policy Design. After graduation, Dr. Cannon became the Assistant Dean of Fine Arts, Applied Arts, and Language Arts at the College of Alameda.
Dr. Cannon’s next career move was to Merritt College in Oakland California where she was the Assistant Dean of the Library and Production Center. She was also responsible for the college’s two outreach community centers, Spanish Speaking and African American. Dr. Cannon retired as Dean Emeritus, Math/Science, Merritt College.
After retirement, Dr. Cannon was an educational TV consultant and continued to Co- Host/ and serve as Executive Producer, of the “Oakland Is” Show, a local cable show that began in the school studios when Dr. Cannon was at Merritt College. She was also the founding Vice-President, African American Museum Coalition, Oakland, California. She served several years as a Commissioner of the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commission, two of them where she was the chairperson.
She is the widow of Rev. Dr. Booker T. Anderson, Jr. a minister in the United Methodist Church.
