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Our Founders

Four men of vision who founded Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. at Howard University.

Howard University, Washington, D.C.

November 17,
1911

On November 17, 1911, three Howard University undergraduates — Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman — met with their biology professor, Ernest Everett Just, in his office and founded Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Four Cardinal Principles have guided it ever since: Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance and Uplift.

  • Manhood
  • Scholarship
  • Perseverance
  • Uplift

  1. November 17, 1911

    Love, Cooper and Coleman found Omega Psi Phi in Professor Just’s office at Howard University.

  2. December 15, 1911

    Alpha Chapter is chartered, after Just helps settle concerns from Howard’s faculty and administration.

  3. 1911–1912

    Love serves as the first Basileus, Cooper as the first Keeper of Records and Coleman as the first Keeper of Seals.

Meet the founders

Select a founder to read his story.

Portrait of Edgar Amos Love
Born
September 10, 1891 · Harrisonburg, Virginia
Education
Howard University (B.A. 1913, B.D. 1916); Boston University (S.T.B. 1918)
In Omega
First Basileus of Alpha Chapter
Service
Chaplain, 368th Infantry, World War I
Died
May 1, 1974 · Baltimore, Maryland

First Basileus · 1891–1974

Bishop Edgar Amos Love

Minister, Army chaplain and bishop of the Methodist Church.

Born in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Edgar Amos Love studied at the academy of Morgan College before entering Howard University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1913 and a Bachelor of Divinity in 1916. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Boston University in 1918.

During World War I he served about 14 months in France as a chaplain with the 368th Infantry. He then built a long career in the Methodist ministry across Maryland, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia, and in 1952 was elected a bishop of the Methodist Church, serving the Baltimore area until 1964.

Bishop Love was a voice for justice throughout his life: he served on the Maryland Inter-Racial Commission and led the Methodist Federation for Social Action for ten years.

Their legacy lives on in every chapter, including ours.

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