Charles Ogletree didn’t attend Morehouse College — the esteemed law professor got his degrees at Stanford and Harvard, where he now teaches. But his leadership and dedication to service make him an honorary Morehouse man, friends and admirers said again and again Friday at a celebration of the respected professor and the 150th anniversary of the historically black men’s college in Atlanta, Ga.

More than 200 people gathered on the sprawling lawn at the Oak Bluffs home of Dr. Louis Sullivan and his wife, Ginger, against a backdrop of Farm Pond and sailboats on Nantucket Sound, for a fundraiser and presentation of the college’s Lux award to Mr. Ogletree.

From left, Andrew Young, Dr. Louis Sullivan, Ginger Sullivan.

Jeanna Shepard

From left, Andrew Young, Dr. Louis Sullivan, Ginger Sullivan.

Jeanna Shepard

Professor Ogletree is vice dean for clinical programs and Jesse Climenko Professor of Law at Harvard. He also founded and led the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice and is the author of several books and a longtime seasonal resident of Oak Bluffs.

“This is the first of what’s going to be an annual tradition,” said Wilton DeVonn Baker, president of the Greater Boston Morehouse College Alumni Association, which planned the event. He noted the school’s many alumni with ties to the Vineyard.

Morehouse maroon was the color of the day — Dr. Sullivan sported maroon suspenders — and many sported school pins. The school emblem is a sun breaking through the clouds and the motto is Et Facta Est Lux, Latin for And There Was Light, fitting for a school created for black men two years after the Civil War.

Morehouse alumni include Martin Luther King Jr., theologian and Civil Rights leader Howard Thurman, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.

“I’ll tell you what,” said Andrew Young, an early leader in the Civil Rights movement and former ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta. “As much as any institution in America, Morehouse has changed the world.”

Dr. Sullivan, Morehouse class of 1954, was secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President George H.W. Bush and the founding dean and president emeritus of the Morehouse School of Medicine.

“Morehouse is a great institution,” Dr. Sullivan told the Gazette. “A sense of servant leadership is really what Morehouse is about.”

Morehouse graduate Spike Lee spoke at event.

Jeanna Shepard

Morehouse graduate Spike Lee spoke at event.

Jeanna Shepard

Mr. Ogletree embodies that sense of public service, Dr. Sullivan said, noting that for years the Harvard professor has convened Charles Hamilton Houston seminars about race and other issues on the Vineyard. “That’s why he’s being honored . . . his leadership and contributions he has made,” he said.

The crowd caught up with friends and listened to music by Ron Emrit and Sage. Guests ranged in age from Frances Redd, 95, who has three daughters that attended Spelman College — the women’s college that is a sister school to Morehouse — to younger alumni of both colleges. Filmmaker Spike Lee, a third generation Morehouse graduate, arrived toward the end of the event straight from the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, where young Morehouse alumni Stefon Bristol received an HBO award for his short film See You Yesterday.

“This is a small Morehouse reunion,” said Boston native and Harvard graduate Charles Carithers, class of 2005, who attended the reunion with his wife, Latarsha Carithers, Spelman class of 2005.

Mr. Ogletree is “a pillar in the community,” Mr. Carithers said. “One of our world’s finest thinkers.”

“He’s made me a better jurist,” said retired Boston Judge Edward Redd, who worked with Mr. Ogletree on programs to bring the professor’s students into the court.

On the Vineyard Judge Redd is a member of the morning swimming group the Polar Bears, while Mr. Ogletree is a fisherman, Judge Redd noted. But in spirit and with his record of giving back to the community, the judge said, the professor is an honorary Polar Bear.

Rev. Phillip Tucker, class of 1990, began the afternoon’s program with an invocation that paid tribute to Mr. Ogletree. “A man of great wisdom, a mentor . . . of other men, a champion of justice,” Reverend Baker said. “That light on a hill that’s allowed others to shine, to dream bigger dreams.”

Dr. Sullivan, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Morehouse class of 1954.

Jeanna Shepard

Dr. Sullivan, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Morehouse class of 1954.

Jeanna Shepard

George (Chip) Greenidge, class of 1992, served as co-founder with Mr. Ogletree of the Benjamin Bannaker Charter Public School in Cambridge, which focuses on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

“When I finally met him I found a man who was really about the people,” Mr. Greenidge said. Mr. Ogletree and his wife, Pam, personally helped many students, he said, including taking them into their home.

Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., a fellow Harvard law professor and faculty dean at Harvard and Morehouse class of 1989, praised his colleague on behalf of students he’s mentored over the years, which includes President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

“[Students] love you, they cherish you, they thank you for, notwithstanding an unbelievably busy schedule, always being there, always present,” Mr. Sullivan said.

He read a proclamation from the commonwealth of Massachusetts and presented Mr. Ogletree with a flame-shaped glass award as noisy ducks flew by over Farm Pond.

Zachary Alphonse Lyncee, class of 2020, said he grew up fishing on the Vineyard with Mr. Ogletree and struggled to call the professor by his nickname, Tree.

Over time, Mr. Lyncee said, he grew comfortable with the nickname. And “I realized that he embodied everything that Morehouse is known for. A legacy of brotherhood, determination, leadership, service, excellence, and of course, humility.”