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Barbara Kydd Graves, the wife of the publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine died on Friday. Mrs. Graves had been fighting gall-bladder cancer for more than three years when she passed away at Howard University Hospital in Washington. She was 74.

Mrs. Graves, who aided in the growth of the publication and media company was involved in the magazine from its start in 1970. She held a number of positions with the company including chief financial officer and circulation director.

In 2010, in a magazine column commemorating the publication’s 40th anniversary, Earl Graves wrote that in the early days his wife “did just about everything there is to do” to put out a magazine. She wrote and edited, designed layouts, served as the sales director and office manager and “was vice president in charge of shutting down the publisher’s bad ideas,” Graves said.

Barbara Graves is survived by her husband and their three children. The eldest son, Earl Graves Jr., is now the president and CEO of Black Enterprise. The other two sons, Johnny Graves and Michael Graves, have also worked as executives at Black Enterprise.

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Every year Black Enterprise encourages and support Black women through their annual Women of Power Summit. While that would be enough, the also honor women of the past with their Legacy Award. The woman pictured above is Jocelyn Elders.

Elders served as the United States Surgeon General from 1993 to 1994 until she was fired behind controversy about some of her views.

You can see what other women Black Enterprise has honored, here.

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Black Enterprise is pulling out all of the stops for this year’s Women of Power Summit. In addition to a host of seminars, networking events and other extracurricular activities, Star Jones will be conducting an interview with Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett.

The two will discuss the role black women have the potential to play in the 2012 elections.

Get more information on this and other events during the Summit at Black Enterprise.com.

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There’s nothing like being inspired by other black women who are making moves in their perspective careers If you want a chance to network with this women, you should strongly consider attending Black Enterprise’s “Women of Power Summit.”

The summit will take place on February 15-18 in Grande Lakes Orlando, Florida at the Ritz-Carlton.

If you register for the summit by January 31, you can save $300.

Get more information about the summit at Black Enterprise.com and stay tuned to Madame Noire as we will continue to post updates and exciting news about the summit.

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Women from across the country donned their finest business attire, coiffed their hair in conservative, yet fly styles and slide their feet into their sensible, or not so sensible pumps and made their way to Black Enterprise’s sixth annual Women of Power Summit in Orlando, Florida. This year’s summit featured workshops on women reclaiming their professional power, branding through social media, the progression of women in college and corporate America and how your sex life can help or hinder your career.

Some pretty interesting stuff! The conference, which started on Wednesday, will end February 26th. If you’d like to catch live coverage of the summit, click here.

Black Enterprise is currently hosting its sixth annual Women of Power Summit in Orlando. You don’t have to miss any of the action though – check out featured speakers like Bethann Hardison, Marion Jones and many more by connecting to their live stream.Log on here to access the stream.