Funeral service for Gayles will be Thursday, Oct. 9, at 1 p.m. at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham.

Gayles served as president at Talladega College from 1977 to 1983. During his presidency, the college raised more than $40 million and conducted the first successful capital campaign in the history of the college.

Birmingham City Councilwoman Maxine Herring Parker worked as an executive assistant to the president during Gayles’ time at Talladega College.

“I and all other Talladegans were saddened by the demise of Dr. Joseph N. Gayles Jr.,” Parker said. “With youth and energy, he brought hope to Talladega College when the school was faced with many challenges. He will be missed by fellow Talladegans and friends.”

Dr. Joseph Johnson also served as Talladega College president and was a friend of Gayles.

“He leaves us with a real thirst for education. He lived it. He understood it. He taught people in Talladega that education leads to empowerment,” Johnson said.

Johnson said Gayles used his Ivy League education and status to make a difference in people’s lives instead of using them for personal gain.

“He was a great leader and president and one of the best presidents in Talladega College’s history,” Johnson said. “He left it in pretty good shape for folks like me.”

Gayles was born in Birmingham on Aug. 7, 1937, as the first child of Joe N. Gayles and Ernestine Williams of Bessemer. He attended public schools in Birmingham and graduated from Ullman High School in Birmingham as the top student in mathematics.

He entered Dillard University on a full academic scholarship and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s of science degree in chemistry. He attended Brown University on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in 1958 and earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.

He would later work as a member of the chemistry faculty at Morehouse College and became the program director of the initiative that led to the founding of the Morehouse School of Medicine.

After Gayles’ time at Talladega College, he returned to the Morehouse School of Medicine, where he served as vice president of institutional advancement and helped the school raise more than $60 million before he retired in 1996.

Gayles had been published in the “Journal of Physical Chemistry,” received the Presidential Leadership Award from the Morehouse School of Medicine, and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary fraternity and the Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Chi social fraternities.

He was baptized at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church and was a longtime member of Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta.

Gayles was preceded in death by his brothers, Carl Gayles and Robert Gayles.

He is survived by his son, Jonathan Gayles (Pam); daughter, Monica Dorsey (Anthony); two grandchildren; two nieces; former wife, Gloria Gaynes; and a number of cousins and friends.