Sam Evans, one of the most interesting people I ever met and certainly the oldest friend I ever had, died yesterday at the age of 105. His death received front-page coverage in the Sunday Inquirer, a tribute that Evans, a consistent media-basher would have appreciated.

The Inquirer obituary, available at philly.com, tries to place Evans life in the context of his times. That is an especially difficult task for a man who was born early in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt--who stirred national controversy by inviting black leader Booker T. Washington to the White House--and died during the Presidential campaign of Barack Obama.

Evans was a tall black man of regal and enviable bearing, and he was throughout his life a leader. Sometimes it was fair to call him a black leader, and other times he was just a leader. Increasingly, he focused on international issues, attempting to mobilize support in the U.N. for worthwhile goals, something the Inquirer does not mention.

The Inquirer does detail his rise from poverty in Philadelphia, from steel worker to janitor to piano player to concert impressario to politician to civil rights leader to government official to foundation leader.

2008 is the 40th anniversary of Evans' 65th Birthday. In the 1960's, Evans returned to the Democratic Party (where he had a position promoting physical fitness; the Inquirer's description of his job is far less sweeping than Evans' own description) from the Republican Party, where he had gotten a position on the State Athletic Commission.

The 1960's were the decade that most put Evans on the political map as a key organizer of about one-sixth of the total of people who attended Martin Luther King's March on Washington, as a leader of President Johnson's election campaign in Pennsylvania, a leader in Mayor James Tate's re-election campaign,a leader of the city's anti-poverty program, and head of the city's program for the Bicentennial celebration to be held in 1976.

Evans deserves credit for helping popularize the concept of the block captain as a key civic leader, and building career ladders for blacks from positions ranging from law school and medical school entrants (he developed extra weekend classes, attended by Michael Nutter and many others) to the position of Mayor of Philadelphia (he helped push the hiring of the first black managing director).

He went back and forth between racial advocacy and advocacy for the citizens as a whole, supporting politicians of various races at various times, seeking a balance of interests in his own mind and then trying to sell that balance to others. His last active participation in a contested mayoral campaign was for Sam Katz against John Street.

He will be missed by many people for his insights, orginality, and humanity.

"Always think BIG," he told me. "Don't just try to solve small problems; try to solve big problems." Evans lived up to that standard decade after decade, and well deserves the accolades and critical attention he is and will continue to be getting. Anyone looking for a book or dissertation topic on the city of Philadelphia could well consider looking at studying his life.

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Improving government for the average citizen


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