As a child, Percy Luney Jr. could not tell his classmates where his father worked.

“All I could say was, ‘My dad works for the government’,” Luney Jr. said.

Luney Sr. worked for the CIA during the height of the cold war.

Percy Luney Sr. earned an undergraduate degree at Kentucky State University, before attending graduate school at UK. He was the first African-American to graduate with a Master’s in Agriculture and Economics.  

“My recollection is that he sat on one side and the white kids sat on the other,” Luney Jr. said.

Luney Jr. was a baby when his father attended UK, as a beneficiary from the GI Bill. Luney Sr. was a member of the Buffalo Soldiers who fought in Italy during WWII.

“My dad came to UK as a vet, and like many other veterans, he wanted to get an education and go on,” Luney Jr. said.

After graduating from UK, he applied to doctorate programs and eventually attended the University of Chicago.

“They hadn’t even known he was a black graduate,” Luney Jr. said of his father.

He applied to Vanderbilt University but received a letter saying “the time was not yet right for an African-American.”

Luney Jr. said that his father did not say much about his time at UK, but that he always had a love of learning.

Luney Sr. moved his family to Washington D.C. to work for the CIA, specializing in space and agriculture. During the height of the Cold War, Luney’s job was to study Russia’s food production capabilities. The use of GPS and remote sensing were new technologies at the time.

Luney Jr. said he could never tell others where his father worked. Years later his father switched to the department of Agriculture. He worked his way up and became the highest ranking African-American civil servant in the Department of Agriculture who was not appointed.

Luney Sr. lived into his 80s, traveled and enjoyed spending time with his family. Luney Jr. said that his parents were married for 60 years and were his major role models.

“Everything I’ve achieved, I owe to them,” Luney Jr. said.