David Eugene Wharton

David Eugene Wharton, 92, of Melbourne, passed away on September 11, 2024. The viewing will be held on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 from 1:30 - 2:30PM at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. The funeral service will immediately follow at 2:30PM.

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Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church
2729 Lipscomb Street
Melbourne, Florida 32901
(321) 729-6597

Born on April 26, 1932, in Washington, D.C., David Eugene Wharton, or “Doc Wharton” as some of his students called him, passed away on September 11, 2024, at 92 years old. He was the youngest of five children born to Richard Elnathan and Virginia Advida Daniels Wharton. Predeceasing him are his siblings, Charles Wharton, John Wharton, Mary Jackson, and Richard Wharton, all born and raised in the nation’s capital.

David studied industrial arts and graduated from Cheyney State University in 1956, where he played basketball against players who would become sports greats through the 1960s and 1970s. Three children, Martha Louise Wharton (Baltimore, MD), Donna Wharton-Fields (Beltsville, MD), and David Eugene Wharton (Winter Garden, FL) were born while he lived in Cinnaminson, NJ. Always a leader, he served as president of the Cinnaminson Junior Chamber of Commerce (the Jaycees).

After accepting a position with General Electric in 1969, David moved his family to Beverly, MA, and he began teaching new employees how to build jet engines. While there he continued to be concerned about the welfare of others and became involved with affirmative action and equal opportunity issues at the Lynn, MA, branch of the company. He also led a state department of education program to help employees earn their GEDs while working at General Electric. He was also a consultant for the Brotherhood of North East, MA in which he helped many families in the local area with housing and employment.

Wharton left General Electric and began teaching at North Shore Community College (NSCC) in Beverly, MA, and earned a master’s degree in counseling at Salem State College. During this period, David directed NSCC’s “experiment in education” called the Minority Cultural Resource Center in Lynn. The Center offered free courses to Black and Latino residents on the North Shore in collaboration with Lynn Model Cities and the Lynn Economic Opportunities. Through his work at NSCC as an assistant professor in the department of psychology, David continued ‘adopting’ students who sought inspiration and mentoring to realize their talents. He eventually directed and expanded NSCC’s Project Interlock, a mentoring program focused on science and engineering, to help minority community college students transfer to and succeed in university-level engineering programs. Project Interlock became a strong and steady pipeline to Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD and other schools which offered engineering programs; where a number of students attended and graduated into successful careers in engineering and other schools which offered engineering programs.

In 1991, he completed his doctorate in Education earning an Ed.D. During his early retirement, he met Ruth Marie Washington of Salem, MA. They married in 1993 and moved to a new home in Florida. Through this marriage, David added two adult children to his family, Terri A. Washington (Dracut, MA) and Andrew D. Washington (Chelmsford, MA), their respective partners, Gary Costa, and Anne Washington. After a few moves throughout the state, David and Ruth finally settled in Melbourne, FL, where they have lived for thirty years. David also taught in Florida at Valencia and Indian River Colleges.

He will be missed by his colleagues, protégés, many friends, nieces and nephews, adult children, and five grandchildren.

If you would like to continue Dr. David Wharton’s work to inspire students to continue their educations, you may send donations in memory of Dr. David E. Wharton to United Negro College Fund at

https://give.uncf.org/site/SPageNavigator/Donate.html.