Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration

HYBRID CELEBRATION

Wednesday, January 10, 2024, 12 noon - 1:30 p.m. CST

Keynote Speaker: Reuben Shelton III, JD, MBA, 34th Grand Polemarch, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Master of Ceremonies: Jonathan Coleman, DVM, USDA-FSIS

Musical Entertainment: Ananias ‘Markey’ Montague, Minister of Music & Fine Arts, Salem Baptist Church, & Linda Breakfield

Plated service meal by MCC Institute for the Culinary Arts

     Chicken breast with sauce

     Mashed potatoes

     Roasted Seasonal Vegetables

     Lemon or chocolate bar

     Water/Sweet Tea/Coffee

In-person: Fort Omaha Campus, Swanson Conference Center, Bldg 22, Room 201

Register and pay for in-person attendance ($20) at In-Person Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration

Register for VIRTUAL attendance ($0) at VIRTUAL Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration

About Reuben A. Shelton

Reuben A. Shelton retired as Lead Litigation Counsel for Monsanto Company where he led a team that handled antitrust and intellectual property litigation.  He recently concluded his term as the International President of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated after serving on the Board of Directors from 2007-2023. Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. was founded in 1911. The fraternity has over 150,000 members with 700 undergraduate and alumni chapters in every state of the United States, and international chapters in the United Kingdom, Germany, Korea, Japan, the Caribbean, Saint Thomas, Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Nigeria, Bermuda, Canada, Dubai, Dominican Republic and South Africa.

Before Monsanto, he was Special Chief Counsel in the Office for the Missouri Attorney General where he Co-led the State’s lawsuit against the tobacco industry.  That lawsuit resulted in a 6.7 billion dollar settlement for Missouri, which is still the largest in the state’s history.

Shelton has served in many civic and professional organizations.  He is Past President of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, and the St. Louis Bar Foundation and is the first African American ever elected to those positions.  He is also Past President of the Missouri Bar Association.

Shelton has served on the governing boards of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the NAACP, the Missouri Lottery Commission, St. Louis Children’s Hospital Development Board, the St. Louis University Board of Regents, the University City, Missouri School Board and was President of the Lincoln University Board of Curators.  He is Past-President of the Legal Services of Eastern Missouri Board of Directors and served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Fathers and Families Support Center in St. Louis.

He served as a member on the Missouri Bar Association Board of Trustees and is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of United Way of Greater St. Louis.

Shelton earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Kansas where he was named Captain of the basketball team, a Juris Doctorate degree from St. Louis University, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

He has received many fraternity, civic and professional awards, far too many to mention here, but most significantly, he was inducted into the Order of the Fleur De Lis, the St. Louis University Law School Hall of Fame, the highest honor the school bestows.  He was awarded the Legal Icon award by Missouri Lawyers Weekly, the statewide legal news publication and designated a Legal Pioneer by the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. Recently, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Kansas Black Alumni Association.

He has been married to his wife D’Anne for 42 years and they have three daughters, three grandsons and one great grandson.