julina_white.jpgBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ A retired architecture professor who was LSU's first black faculty member has died of cancer. Julian White was 73 years old. LSU announced Thursday that White died this week.

White taught at Southern University and Tuskegee University before joining LSU's faculty in 1971. He retired from the university in 2003.

LSU Chancellor Mike Martin says White “holds an important place in the university's history by breaking the color barrier as its first black professor.'' He said White leaves a lasting legacy with his fellow educators, students and the architectural community.

White also had an architecture firm in Baton Rouge. LSU says the majority of his projects involved schools and churches.