‘A pillar of the community.’ Former UM Hospital director Regina Jollivette Frazier dies at 80

C. Isaiah Smalls II
·4 min read
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Regina Jollivette Frazier loved Christmas because it meant time with her family.

“If you were to ask my mother what her biggest achievement was, I really think she would say her family,” said her daughter Rozalynn Frazier, recalling her mother’s insistence on a 9-foot Fraser fir tree and gold decorations. “I think she poured into us at every moment and really set an example for all of us to follow. The world saw my mother’s outward persona, the professional side – my mother was mighty in this community – but to us, she was just ‘Mommie.’ Spelled M - O - M- M- I- E.”

The Miami community suffered a great loss with the passing of Frazier on Feb. 15, 2024. She was 80. A member of a trailblazing Miami family, Frazier continued their legacy when she became one of the youngest directors in the history of University of Miami Hospital and Clinics. She also made a point to give back at every turn.

“She understood community service,” said longtime friend Antonia Williams-Gary, later adding that although she loved the finer things, “Regina was grounded.”

Frazier was born September 30, 1943 in the historically Black neighborhood of Overtown to parents Cyrus Martin Jollivette and Frances Reeves Jollivette Chambers. Her father, Cyrus, worked as a pharmacist and founded Liberty City’s Community Drug Store in 1948 while her mother, Frances, was a teacher and daughter of The Miami Times founder Henry E. S. Reeves. With that sort of DNA, it’s no surprise that Frazier “set the bar very high,” said Williams-Gary.

“Regina was the ‘It’ girl,” said Williams-Gary who first met Frazier at age eight. “All I heard my entire childhood was you have to be like that Reeves girl.”

Frazier would go on to graduate from Miami Northwestern as valedictorian in 1961. When it came time for her to go to college, she knew she had to leave Florida.

“My mother was still trying to decide where I should go and I said, ‘Look, as long as it’s out of the State of Florida it’s fine with me,’” Frazier told The HistoryMakers, a nonprofit committed to preserving the stories of both well-known and unsung Black Americans, in 2017. “I said, ‘I have been sheltered all my life and it’s time for me to kind of get out on my own.’”

Regina Jollivette Frazier became director of pharmacy for University of Miami Hospitals and Clinics, one of the youngest people to be named a director at UM Hospital. She died Feb. 16, 2024 at age 80.
Regina Jollivette Frazier became director of pharmacy for University of Miami Hospitals and Clinics, one of the youngest people to be named a director at UM Hospital. She died Feb. 16, 2024 at age 80.

The Miami native eventually chose Howard University due to the institution’s school of pharmacy. There, she would meet her eventual husband, Ronald E. Frazier. It wasn’t quite love at first sight but Frazier knew what she wanted and eventually, she got him.

“I found out that the team, the swim team was going to Baltimore for a meet,” she told The HistoryMakers. Ronald was on the swim team at the time. “I got a ride over there and I watched him and after the meet I went up to him and I said, ‘Oh, can you help me? I have no way to get back to campus.’ So he got me back to campus and the rest is history.”

Shortly after Frazier’s graduation from Howard in 1966, she and Ronald would marry. By 1970, she returned home to accept a senior pharmacist position at the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics. In just three years, she would be promoted to director of pharmacy. Frazier would serve at the helm of UM’s Pharmacy department until 2007 while also receiving her M.B.A. degree from the University of Miami in 1983.

“She was woman who fought through the adversity of her time — racism, sexism — to have this fantastic career, become a pillar of the community and leave this rich legacy,” Rozalynn said.

Frazier would also join The Links, Incorporated, a service organization dedicated to empowering Black women, in 1970 and by 1986, she became youngest person to be elected national president. As president, a position which she held until 1990, she charted the first international chapter in the organization’s history.

“My agenda was to make the chain of friendship that encircled the globe not only figuratively but literally,” Frazier told The HistoryMakers. “And to that end, I charted the first international chapter in Nassau, the Bahamas.”

Regina Jollivette Frazier looks at some recent pictures of her family at her home in Miami Shores.
Regina Jollivette Frazier looks at some recent pictures of her family at her home in Miami Shores.

Frazier’s stature in the community made her a mainstay on many board of directors including the United Way of Miami-Dade, New World School of the Arts and National Coalition on Black Voter Participation. Her affiliations included Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Orange Bowl Committee, and the International Woman’s Forum. Her extensive list of recognitions – including Florida Memorial College’s Sarah A. Blocker Meritorious Community Service Award, Anti-Defamation League’s Woman of Achievement Award and Association of Black Health-System Pharmacists’ Meritorious Service Award – even earned her a spot on Ebony magazine’s One Hundred Most Influential Black Americans from 1987 to 1990.

“Every organization she belonged to she became a true leader,” said friend Toni Randolph.

Frazier is survived by her husband Ronald, her sister Cleo L. Jollivette, her three children Ronald E. Frazier II, Robert C. Frazier and Rozalynn as well as her grandson Ronald E. Frazier III. Funeral services will be held 11 a.m. March 7 at St. Rose of Lima Church, 415 NE 105th St., Miami.