Dr. Alexander was born in 1922 in Petersburg, Virginia. He attended Orange High school in New Jersey before he was accepted to Rutgers on a scholarship. He was a member of ROTC, the engineering program, and the Rutgers track team. A Tuskegee Airman, he graduated from Rutgers with a degree in mechanical engineering, then went to work for Douglas Aircraft as a draftsman in California. He enlisted in the USAAF in 1944 and trained at Keesler and Tuskegee Army Airbases as a fighter pilot. World War II ended before he was deployed. He later attended Howard University's dental school and became a distinguished dentist in New Jersey.
Dr. Alexander was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Rutgers African-American Alunni Alliance in 2007. He was inducted into the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2009.
Dr. Cornelius E. Gaither was born in Philadephia in 1928. He attended an all black elementary schooll in West Chester, Pennsylvania before attending an integrated high school. Gaither attended Lincoln University in 1945 and went on to Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee to earn his doctorate degree in Dental Surgery. He joined the Air Force in 1955 and spent three years an oral surgeon in Germany. Gaither retired in 1987 having served over thirty years in the Reserves.