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Helen Claytor set out to "change the world" after graduating from the University of Minnesota, and her quest took her to the top of the national YWCA organization.
She was the first black woman to hold the position.
Claytor, of Grand Rapids, Mich., died Tuesday from congestive heart failure. The longtime civil rights worker was 98.
"She was just compassionate and passionate," said Carla Blinkhorn, president and CEO of the Grand Rapids YWCA, who said Claytor engaged people in a personal way. "At the same time, she was always forcing you to think of the big picture."
Claytor, who became the first black president of a local YWCA board in 1949 and the first black woman to lead the national organization, 1967-1976, graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1928. She began her career...