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- Public appeal during commencement led to an anonymous donor and a successful kidney transplant, changing his prognosis.
- Livingstone community provided sustained prayer, support, and dozens tested as potential donors during his 18 months on dialysis.
- Institutional growth continued amid crisis: major enrollment gains, improved retention, and rising male representation.
- Ambitious future plans include a $225 million renovation, new residential quad, four-star hotel, and expanded solar energy.
Livingstone College President Dr. Anthony J. Davis has spent the last three years talking about transformation — enrollment growth, capital investment, and a renewed sense of pride at the Salisbury-based HBCU. But in 2025, the transformation wasn’t just institutional. It was personal.
Sitting inside his home in early December, Davis reflected on the year that saw him battle kidney disease, undergo dialysis for 18 months, and ultimately receive a life-saving transplant from an anonymous donor. It is a story rooted in vulnerability, faith, and the power of community — the same elements he believes define Livingstone College.
A Public Appeal That Changed Everything
Davis first revealed his condition publicly during Livingstone College’s May 5 commencement ceremony, making an emotional appeal for a kidney donor. It was not a moment he took lightly.
“How do you ask somebody to give something as vital as a body part?” he recalled. “It was humbling. The hardest season of my life.”
But that transparency changed everything. After HBCU Gameday amplified the story, an anonymous donor read the coverage and felt compelled to act. The donor went to Atrium Health and attempted to give a kidney specifically to Davis — even though, at the time, he wasn’t yet registered there as a transplant candidate.
“Had you not pushed it out,” Davis said, “I wouldn’t be sitting here today on the other side of transplant.”
When Atrium staff couldn’t locate him in the national registry — flooded with hundreds of Anthony Davises — someone finally called Livingstone College. What began as a call the school thought was a hoax led to a confirmed match and a scheduled surgery on November 13. The symbolism wasn’t lost on Davis.
“I’m the 13th president. And it happened on the National Day of Giving,” he said. “Seven days later, all my kidney markers were normal.”
Livingstone College President Dr. Anthony J. Davis poses. (Steven J. Gaither/HBCU Gameday)An HBCU Campus That Carried Its Leader
Throughout his 18 months on dialysis, Davis quietly pushed through fatigue, nausea, anemia, and weight gain while continuing to run the college. He often rode a golf cart toward the end when walking became difficult. Yet he says the Livingstone College community helped him keep going.
“Students would stop me, circle the golf cart, and pray for me,” he said. “Young brothers grabbing my hands in the cafeteria… bishops in the AME Zion Church—everywhere I went, people were praying.”
Their support became overwhelming — in the best way. When Duke previously estimated it could take up to seven years to find a donor match, about 70 people signed up to test on his behalf.
“I believe God heard all those prayers and said, ‘Let me hurry up and bless this guy,’” he said with a laugh.
Steering a Growing HBCU Through Personal Crisis
Even while managing his health crisis, Davis oversaw one of the most dramatic growth spurts in Livingstone College history. Enrollment has risen 43.5% in three years, with 51% male enrollment — a rarity in higher education. Retention is climbing as well, with a 76% freshman retention rate and 92% persistence among upperclassmen.
“We’re not just growing numerically,” he emphasized. “We’re growing in quality. Students are making Livingstone College their first choice.”
That growth has created positive new problems — like running out of residence hall space. But Davis chose to place overflow students in quality local hotels because, as he put it, “They needed to stay where I would stay.”
The Future: A New Livingstone College Rising
The next chapter for Livingstone College could be its most ambitious yet. In addition to another $5 million gift from the anonymous donor, Davis confirmed the presence of a major angel investor preparing a $225 million campus renovation plan. That vision includes:
- A new 350-bed residential quad
- A four-star hotel operated by the college
- Solar energy expansion
- Comprehensive campus-wide modernization
“Livingstone College will not look the same,” Davis said. “We will be a different HBCU — still affordable, still mission-driven, but competitive with the higher-echelon schools.”
A Leader Renewed
Now restored, renewed, and rejuvenated, Davis says he is ready to continue the work he believes he was called to do.
“If service is beneath you, leadership is beyond you,” he said. “I’m here to serve.”
He also made one final request — one familiar to anyone who has spent time on campus:
“Before I go,” he smiled, “I gotta ask that question. Who you with? LC.”
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