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About
Only by Grace chronicles the life and achievements of Dr. Edward Irons, whose accomplishments are a testament to the heights one can reach through faith, commitment, and true dedication. Dr. Irons was recruited by Howard University in Washington D.C., to organize a business school. With the help of students and faculty, the business school came to fruition in 1970. He organized the first full program of the National Bankers Association, serving as its First Executive Director, and with the help of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, president of Operation Push, he launched a $100-million Bank Deposit Development Program for minority banks. During that time, Jesse Jackson approached Jim Roche, chairman of General Motors Corporation, and vehemently requested that GMC begin granting automobile franchises to African Americans, which was a historical move. Consequently, automobile franchises became the largest segment of minority business in the U.S. in the years that followed. After receiving his doctorate, he vowed to return to the South and 'give back,' rejecting a number of major corporate offers including the Mead Corporation, a multinational paper manufacturer which, at that time, had fifteen subsidiaries around the world. Dr. Irons also declined an offer from Chase Manhattan Bank. Another significant challenge for him was his acceptance of the deanship of the School of Business at Clark Atlanta University. In this position he was charged with the responsibility of securing the accreditation for both the graduate and undergraduate schools, with extremely limited resources. Had he not been successful, the graduate school would have lost its twenty-one-year accreditation. By the grace of God and, perhaps, given the fact that he was a member of the board of the accrediting agency, his quest for accreditation was successful. Following an illustrious twenty-four-year tenure, he retired from the deanship, exhausted. He was then approached by Dr. Thomas Cole, Jr., president of the university, and asked to stay on as Distinguished Professor of Finance/Entrepreneurship, a position which he held for fifteen years prior to his retirement.