David L. Beckwith

David Louis Beckwith, 71, died peacefully at home in Toledo, OH on February 22, 2022. Dave was born on December 17, 1950 to Louis and Dorothy Beckwith in Waltham, MA. Dave is survived by his wife of almost 42 years, Lindsay Potts, his daughter Schuyler Beckwith (David Wilson), his son Judson Beckwith, his daughter-in-love and granddaughter Loreli and Isabeau Bratton, three brothers and a sister, nieces, nephews, godchildren, friends and compatriots. Dave deeply loved us and was deeply loved in return. He was sharp and funny. He was a voracious reader and an autodidact. He was the family fact keeper and storyteller, never letting the truth get in the way of a good yarn. Dave had a prodigious memory and would reach back for a tip to share on diapering or an old successful organizing strategy or an evocation of his mother or, for that matter, your mother. He loved opera and good food and comically large cigars. Dave could make a ridiculous joke and, on a dime, go emotionally or intellectually or spiritually deep. He listened to us. He helped us find ourselves, and each other, and our passion and our paths. Dave was absurdly optimistic. Dave was a community organizer in his bones. His father, a Baptist minister in New England, connected him early with social and racial justice movements. Thoughtful action was Dave’s practice. His work took him from community -based organizations in Rhode Island, to a training center for organizing, to the Center for Community Change in DC. Dave came to Toledo in 1981 as director of the East Toledo Community Organization (ETCO). He worked for the University of Toledo’s Urban Affairs Center. In 2003 he became the Executive Director of the Needmor Fund, a Stranahan family foundation supporting grassroots community organizing around the country. In his “retirement,” he consulted and coached through the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, the Great Lakes Consortium, European Community Organizing Network (ECON), and independently. Dave was particularly proud of the support he leant to Lois Gibbs and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ); Toledoan Gerry Jensen and the Association for Children for the Enforcement of Support (ACES); Toledoan Barbara Blaine and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP); the Great Lakes Consortium lead by Elizabeth Balint, which works with organizing communities in Central Europe; and ECON. It is impossible to describe Dave’s reach, but it was wide and deep. It spanned the US, extended to Europe, Canada and Australia. That reach included immediate and extended family, his friends, his fellow travelers young and old and in all our lovely stripes. He was expansive and generous and fair. A Celebration of Dave will be held on Saturday, April 30, 2022 from 1-5 pm at the Valentine Theatre in Downtown Toledo. We hope you will join us, but we do ask that all who attend be fully vaccinated. Please check valentinetheatre.com close to April 30th for COVID protocols. Dave wanted us to wail for an hour and indulge in bad behavior – eat a piece of pie, smoke a cigar, buy an expensive book – blame it on “…but Dave died”; then get back to love and work. However, if anyone wants to do something more tangible in Dave’s memory, please consider Center for Health, Environment and Justice (chej.org), the Toledo Opera (toledoopera.org), ECON (organizeeurope.org), the Great Lakes Consortium (https://connect.clickandpledge.com/Organization/glc-teachdemocracy2/Campaign/ProfessionalFellows), or the trouble makers of your choice. And for all those young people who benefited from Dave’s love and guidance: remember who you are.