Eric Ford — who was hailed by Detroit’s police chief as a “true superhero” for his work as president of the nonprofit Detroit 300 — died this week. He was 58.
Funeral arrangements are pending, friends and acquaintances said.
“He was my friend, mentor and the person I called ‘Superman’ due to his strong stature and how he was never afraid to step-up when called,” Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said in statement released Monday, Sept. 15. “His presence will be truly missed by myself and so many others that he touched.”
Bettison called Ford “an incredible community member and a massive voice for Community Violence Intervention,” who, the chief said, would show up “for the elderly community to ensure their safety” and to “neighborhoods where the residents’ well-being may be in a compromising situation.”
To Ford, friends said, keeping Detroiters safe was personal.
Detroit 300, a nonprofit community group, was formed about 15 years ago after a 90-year-old woman was raped in her Detroit home. Ford later stepped into a leadership role in the group and sought to enhance its presence.
Accounts vary as to why the group called itself Detroit 300.
One in the Free Press noted 300 was the number of volunteers who joined the first night. Another suggested that 300 was a reference to a Hollywood film, “300,” about 300 Spartan warriors who fought an invading army of 300,000.
Either way, over the years, Detroit police praised the group, calling it a “community partnership” that the chief said stepped up to help make a difference.
Detroit 300 leader Greg Kelly told the Free Press on Tuesday that Ford understood firsthand the toll violence could take on a person because Ford’s father killed his mother, a tragedy that he took to heart and hoped he could prevent for others.
“We started out in the organization together,” Kelly said, adding that when Ford took the group’s helm, he pushed it to do even more by aiming to protect “women, children and elderly people.”
Police Commissioners Vice Chair Darryl Woods called Ford someone “everyone loved.”
“I never met a person who responded to the needs of the community in the manner in which he did,” Woods said. “Anytime you called upon on him, he was there with compassion, ready to help in any way he possibly could.”
Woods said Ford is survived by his widow, who he recently married, and adult children.
“We, as a city, need to wrap our arms around his family, and extended family, at this lonely hour,” Woods said, calling Ford an ambassador of peace and justice. “His death is a tremendous loss to everyone.”
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 orfwitsil@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit 300 leader Eric Ford dies at 58. Detroit police chief calls him a ‘superhero’
Reporting by Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
