George Knight June 10, 1943 - August 18, 2008

August 25, 2008 — On August 18, 2008, the country lost a giant in the field of neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing and resident empowerment.  George Knight.

And those of us at NeighborWorks America lost a former executive director, a colleague, a mentor and a friend.

View obituary in the Washington Post.

George passed away after a courageous battle with esophageal cancer. George worked for NeighborWorks America (then known as the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation) from the mid-1970s until his retirement in 2000, to care for his ailing wife.  He served as executive director from 1990 until 2000. 

It is so difficult to capture the many facets of George Knight.  He was a person of great intellect and thought, blended with humility, humor, compassion and a true desire to make this world a better place.

Rather than writing about George, it’s appropriate to let his own words speak for him. Here's a postscript that he wrote for the Year 2000 Annual Report of NeighborWorks America, soon after his retirement:

Postscript

Leaving Neighborhood Reinvestment after 24 years (the last 10 as executive director) was a deeply moving experience. I was overwhelmed with emotion at the outpouring of words, hugs, cards and memories.

The wonderful opportunities over the years to join with residents, representatives of the private and public sectors, as well as financial supporters, including the Congress, board agencies and countless others, allowed me, along with hundreds of others, each in our own small way, to help build stronger communities.

Always the focus was on revitalizing neighborhoods. When a family awakens each day in their own home, secure from cold and rain, they have the opportunity to take the next step in building their lives, in assisting their neighbors to build a strong and vital community, and in raising the next generation of Americans.

Watching the NeighborWorks network grow in its capacity to secure places for people to live – as owners and as renters – has been a great joy.

Leaving, I’m more convinced than ever that it all begins with residents leading the way. Talking with residents in any community, one quickly learns what they believe would make their community better. While sometimes it’s fairly small in the grand scheme of things, although huge from their point of view, achieving that first, small step begins to build a base of confidence and trust in themselves and in each other. Once confidence is built and emerges victorious from a crucible of frustration or even defeat, a leadership base has been laid down that has the power, with partners, to transform a community.

We live in a world-wide web of partners each doing their own “thing.” The community development task is to entice those partners into joining with residents to revitalize the residents’ communities. If truth be told, it’s not very hard. NeighborWorks financial (lending and insuring) partners are eager to expand into new communities, especially when NeighborWorks organizations fill in the gaps so each can do what it does best.  NeighborWorks public-sector partners are also eager to build strong communities. 

A final word of thanks to the staff of Neighborhood Reinvestment and NeighborWorks organizations.  Without you, none of this would even be possible. A “servant leader” is someone who works so well helping others achieve their goals that they say, “We did it ourselves.” And the servant leader finds joy and fulfillment in that.

I’ve had the great pleasure to work with thousands of such servant leaders. They answer the phones, counsel homebuyers or those in trouble, guide a youth away from danger, and speak out when authorities are considering decisions that would rip away years of progress.

Thank you all for allowing me to have been part of this great good effort. To have enjoyed the pleasure of your company and shared the high spirits of great achievements have filled me with awe at your dedication, your skills and your leadership.

Now I look forward to cheering you on for many more years, and for many more families whose lives, neighborhoods and communities will each be better for your having been there with them and for them. Peace!

George Knight
Former Executive Director
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation

COMMENTS: I was so saddened to hear of George’s passing.  When, in the mid-1970s, I was involved on the community piece of the development and then became the founding director of La Habra Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS), now Orange County NHS, he was there from the Urban Reinvestment Task Force helping us through the nascent movement of public-private partnership, NHS, and community reinvestment.  His talk of “servant as leader” struck a chord with me and crystallized a lot of my own, unenunciated ideals, and became a life-long journey.  He was one of my mentors, a friend, authentic, a true servant, a leader. Jim Yacenda Vice President and Community Investment Officer Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco I first met George after receiving an invitation to come to DC for a Board meeting to give some input, during my tenure at SouthSide Neighborhood Housing Services here in Minneapolis. I spent some time with him and Gary Askerooth and soon discovered that both of these gentlemen and myself had a lot in common with our visions of affordable housing and advocating for opportunities for the underserved, as well as one of the key components of providing these opportunities: housing education. My heart goes out to his family for their loss as well as NHS as an organization for losing A Great Man, one that truly cared about others, who did more than just talk. Mickey Fulton