Kean University Lecturer Shares Family Connection with Ndaba Mandela

Human rights activist Ndaba Mandela’s recent visit to Kean University held special meaning for one university lecturer who has longstanding family ties to Nelson Mandela dating back 30 years. 

Daun Ward shared a photo album and family stories with Ndaba Mandela, highlighting the friendship between her late father-in-law, Patrick J. Ward, a global corporate executive, and the renowned anti-apartheid activist, who was also Ndaba’s grandfather. 

Patrick J. Ward, an international corporate leader, supported Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment, refusing to withdraw his company from South Africa to avoid harming local communities. 

“Nelson Mandela recognized my father-in-law as one of the only corporate leaders who stood strong and supported him,” Ward said. “This is something that, as a family, we are very, very proud of.” 

After Mandela’s release in 1990, the two developed both a business relationship and a lasting friendship, Ward said. Mandela went on to become the first Black president of South Africa. 

In 1994, Patrick Ward invited Mandela to serve as guest speaker at a National Foreign Trade Council dinner in New York during Mandela’s first state visit to the United States. The event became a cherished family memory and produced a photo album that included images of Mandela and Patrick Ward laughing and talking. 

After Ndaba Mandela’s Distinguished Lecture at Kean last month, Daun Ward, a Point Pleasant resident who works with Kean Ocean students in the COE Office of Student Placement, met with him and shared the book, deepening her family’s connection to his legacy. 

“He was authentic, kind and warm,” Ward said of Ndaba Mandela, Kean’s senior human rights fellow. “I think he was as excited to see the pictures as I was to show them. He even took pictures of some of the images himself.” 

Ward credits Sancha K. Gray, Ed.D., acting dean of COE and senior vice president for entrepreneurial education initiatives at Kean, with encouraging her to attend Ndaba Mandela’s lecture, giving her the chance to add an extra link to her family’s connection with the family of a civil rights icon. 

“Ndaba Mandela’s visit to Kean University left a profound impact, inspiring students and faculty alike with his powerful message of resilience, leadership and the enduring legacy of his grandfather, Nelson Mandela,” Gray said.