Samuel Tanner Stafford was born in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri, as the first child and son of Dr. Samuel P. Stafford, a practicing physician, and his wife, Bertha Tanner Stafford, the daughter of the presiding Bishop of the A.M.E. Church, Reverend Benjamin T. Tanner. A product of the St. Louis public school system, he later graduated with a B.S. degree from Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, and a M.S. degree in Public Health and Hospital Administration from the University of Michigan.
Stafford served as Administrator of the Good Samaritan-Waverly Hospital of Columbia, South Carolina; the Norfolk Community Hospital, Norfolk, Virginia; and Flint-Goodridge Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1948, he was the recipient of the Annual Knox College Alumni Achievement Award and an Urban League Certificate of Recognition, and he was elected to Fellowship in the American College of Hospital Administrators at the annual convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
At age 45, Stafford was selected as one of the early superintendents of the new Florida A&M College Hospital, Tallahassee, Florida. Stafford also served as President and one of the founders of the Tri-State Conference of Hospital Administrators (Virginia, North and South Carolina). Along with the other founders, the Tri-State vision was developed to provide a collective structure for fellow African American administrators to advance their healthcare careers in the face of discrimination and limited opportunities. He was also Treasurer of the Gaudet Episcopal High School, a boarding school for black youth operated by the church until closing in 1950 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Stafford served as Vice President of the New Orleans Urban League. He was a member of the Board of Managers of the Hospital Services Association of New Orleans; a member of the North Florida Hospital Council; and a member of the NAACP. He also held memberships in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity (Alpha Alpha and Alpha Zeta Member Boulés), and the Elks. In 1952, Stafford was selected at the 21st Grand Boule in Cleveland, Ohio, to serve as the 15th Archon Megistos (a.k.a. Grand Sire Archon) in the history of the Grand Boulé of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.
Samuel Stafford was also known as a virtuoso violinist, and he played in the Florida A&M String Ensemble for many years. He was married to the former Frances Johnson, who was born in Atlanta as the daughter of Carrie B. Johnson and Charles H. Johnson. Stafford and his wife had two sons, Charles Tanner and Samuel Patterson Stafford II.
Up until his death at the age of 61 in July of 1968, Stafford served as Assistant Professor in Health and Physical Education at Florida A&M University and was a vestryman of St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church, Tallahassee, Florida. In his memory, Florida A&M University’s School of Allied Health continues to annually host the S. Tanner Stafford Lecture Series, which emphasizes the importance of leadership in career development.
