Carolyn J. B. Howard

Carolyn J. B. Howard was an American politician and educator who spent nearly three decades representing Prince George's County in the Maryland House of Delegates. She died on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at the age of 87. Her family confirmed her death to NBC4 Washington the day it occurred. A cause of death has not been made public.

She was born on December 20, 1938, in DeLand, Florida. She earned a Bachelor of Science in home economics and education from Florida A&M University and a Master of Education from Bowie State College (now Bowie State University). Before Annapolis, she built a career in Prince George's County Public Schools: principal from 1981 to 1988, Title I supervisor from 1988 to 2000, and director of the Department of Federal Programs from 2000 to 2005. That school experience shaped the education focus she carried into the legislature.

Howard first entered the Maryland House of Delegates for District 24 in August 1988, serving until January 1990. She returned in March 1991 and remained through January 9, 2019. Over that long second tenure she became one of the chamber's senior Democrats: Deputy Speaker Pro Tem from 2007 to 2019, chair of the House Democratic Caucus from 1999 to 2019, chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland from 1998 to 2000, and chair of the Prince George's County Delegation from 2003 to 2006. She sat for years on Ways and Means and on joint audit and policy committees, and she chaired the House transportation subcommittee for much of the late 1990s and 2000s.

She was a Democratic National Convention delegate in 1984, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2016 and 2020, and she held leadership roles in Women Legislators of Maryland and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. Honors included Maryland's Top 100 Women (Daily Record, 2003), an honorary doctorate in humanities from Sojourner-Douglass College (2004), and Consumer Hero citations from the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition (2013 and 2014). She was married to Earl J. Howard and had three children.

Howard's public life bridged classroom and Capitol. For constituents in District 24 she was the long-serving advocate who knew both Title I schools and the Annapolis budget process. Wikipedia and Maryland state biographical records, together with the NBC4 confirmation of her death, are the principal sources for this memorial.