Viewing will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at House of Wheat Funeral Home, 2107 N Gettysburg Ave, Dayton, OH 45406.
A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Corinthian Baptist Church, 700 S James H McGee Blvd, Dayton, OH 45402.
EARLIER REPORT
The Dayton community recalled Dean Lovelace, the city’s longest-serving commissioner who died Sunday, for the impact he made on others’ lives.
Lovelace was being remembered as “one of the region’s most-respected leaders” and “a consummate public servant” who battled social injustice.
“Dean was the original champion for Dayton’s neighborhoods and for those in poverty,” according to a statement from former Dayton mayor and current U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton.
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“Our strong relationship showed the community that race and party should never be a barrier for accomplishing great things together,” according to Turner. “Dayton will miss him greatly.”
Lovelace died Sunday, more than a year after stepping down from a Dayton City Commission seat he assumed in 1994. Lovelace had health issues in recent years, including suffering a stroke in 2008.
His family once lived in the DeSoto Bass housing projects and he long believed that residents can accomplish great things with a little assistance. He was known as a firebrand committed to serving the most needy and vulnerable city residents, friends and peers said.
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“It was always about people first, especially the little people,” said Dayton City Commissioner Jeff Mims Jr., a friend of Lovelace’s for more than 50 years.
Mims said he served with Lovelace in Boy Scouts and in athletics at Jefferson High School, where the latter graduated in 1964.
“Obviously, he was very focused on helping people,” said Mims, who graduated high school a year later. “If there was something that you didn’t understand, he’d be the one to explain it to you.”
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Lovelace studied applied and social economics at Wright State University, and business administration at the University of Dayton, where he would later work for 25 years, according to his Facebook page.
Mims and others cited his work against predatory lending “way before it was popular.” Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said “his legacy will always be here, not only locally but nationally, his efforts fighting for the economically disadvantaged in our community.”
Lovelace ended his 22-year tenure on the city commission in early 2016, seven years after retiring from UD, where he was director of the Dayton Civic Scholars program.
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He taught a class on community engagement at UD, where one of his students was Matt Joseph, who would later serve on the city commission with him.
“He was someone who was there for the people who thought the world was against them, who thought society was against them, or that the government was against them — or thought they had been dealt a bad hand by life,” he said.
Lovelace was a community activist and organizer. In the 1980s, he ran the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaigns in Dayton.
He was first elected to city commission in November 1993 after two unsuccessful bids. He bested five other candidates to fill the unexpired term of Mark Henry. In the special election, the independent topped Mary Sue Kessler, who was endorsed by the Montgomery County Democratic Party.
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Lovelace was a strong advocate for the formation of neighborhood development corporations to work on housing rehabilitation, job training and other projects.
He also served on the board of directors of the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center, where he “brought passion, personal integrity, care and kindness to everything he did,” according to a statement from Jim McCarthy, president and chief executive officer of the center.
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Lovelace was one of the region’s most respected leaders who “utilized his intelligence, humility, humor and commitment to get things done,” City Commissioner Joey Williams posted on his Facebook page.
Lovelace’s Facebook page indicates he was from Ford City, Pa., northeast of Pittsburgh, but enjoyed being a Daytonian who “was completely dedicated to improving our city,” Williams noted.
Reaction to Lovelace’s death drew strong interest on social media, with dozens of Facebook comments within hours after his passing became public.
“I would not be where I am today” without his help, wrote Katy Crosby. “When so many told me no, he said yes. He believed in me, mentored and guided me and I am proud to be in a position to implement policies and programs focused on economic justice issues he fought for tirelessly his entire life.
“I will forever be grateful to him,” she added. “It will be my honor and lifelong commitment to continue his work.”
Services are pending and are expected to be handled by the House of Wheat Funeral Home, 2107 N. Gettysburg Ave., Mims said.
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