of Porgy and Bess. Despite his issues, he did sing on occasion during his final years, despite the fact that by then his singing voice was practically gone. In those years, when he sang "Ol' Man River", he would not perform it with the original lyrics, but with the altered ones that Paul Robeson used in his recitals beginning in 1938. He died in Chicago in August 2002, following treatment at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, succumbing to injuries he sustained in his neck from a fall a month prior. Membership of organizations Warfield was active in many organizations, after appearing as the featured artist at the 50th year convention of the National Association of Negro Musicians , he became active with the organization, serving as its president for two terms. He later served on the boards of the NANM and the Schiller Institute. After joining the Schiller Institute in 1996, he began to collaborate with acclaimed vocal coach Sylvia Olden Lee in a project to save the performance tradition of the Negro spiritual. During the final years of his life, from 1999 to 2002, he performed regularly at Schiller Institute biannual conferences, often with Olden Lee as his accompanist, and the two of them traveled the country conducting singing workshops for members of the LaRouche Youth Movement. Warfield was made an honorary member of the Delta Lambda chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at Ball State University in 1961, and awarded the Fraternity's Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award in 1976 at its national convention in Evansville, Indiana. Legacy The William Warfield Scholarship Fund was formed in 1977 to support young African American classical singers at the Eastman School of Music. His nephew, Thomas Warfield, has presided over the fund. Recipients include Claron McFadden and Nicole Cabell. References External links William Warfield Scholarship Fund Schiller Institute biography and obituary William Warfield interview by Bruce Duffie National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. 1920 births 2002 deaths 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male opera singers African-American male opera singers American bass-baritones LaRouche movement People from West Helena, Arkansas Military personnel from Arkansas Singers from Arkansas Eastman School of Music alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Grammy Award winners Ritchie Boys