Renauld White, Debonair Model Who Broke Barriers, Dies at 80

Renauld White, who is widely considered to be the country’s first Black male supermodel.

Renauld White, who is widely considered to be the country’s first Black male supermodel — and who for nearly half a century was an elegant and enduring image of American style, walking the runways for Bill Blass, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Jeffrey Banks and Donna Karan, as well as being the first Black American model to appear on the cover of GQ magazine — died on June 26 in Manhattan. He was 80.

His niece Alonda Gregory confirmed the death, in a hospital. No cause was given. Mr. White, at a lanky 6-foot-2 with a chiseled face and aquiline nose, was for decades a sought-after avatar of male beauty, photographed for editorial and commercial work by fashion stars like Charles Tracy, Herb Ritts, Horst P. Horst and Bruce Weber. In the 1970s, he sported a short Afro and a mustache — and, often, a disarming smile, as he did for the cover of GQ’s November issue in 1979.