Cherry Hill Building Once Named After 1 Pioneer Renamed For Another

CHERRY HILL, NJ — The Estelle V. Malberg Administration Building of the Cherry Hill School District was officially renamed the Arthur Lewis Administration Building on Friday.

Lewis was the Cherry Hill School District's first Black school board member and rose through the ranks to become the second in command of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to nj.com.

Jennifer Lewis-Hall spoke at the renaming ceremony about her father.

"He was a very humble man, so he would be tickled that we would be here and in a way a little embarrassed, like 'Why are you making all this fuss over me?'" she said in a video posted to the school district's Facebook page.

"So remember from where he came," Lewis-Hall continued. " The black man who made it to the top of his profession, facing many challenges that had never been able to be broken through."

Malberg, the building's previous namesake, was a trailblazer in the special needs field and a former assistant superintendent of the Cherry Hill School District, according to "Cherry Hill: A Brief History." The school district's preschool will now bear her name.

Representatives from the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association, Cherry Hill Township, Cherry Hill Police Department, DEA and Cherry Hill School District were among those who attended the ceremony.

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