Ghebre Selassie Mehreteab, senior foundation executive and affordable housing expert, has died at 76
He cofounded the celebrated National Housing Partnership in 1989 and served as chief executive officer until 2009.
Ghebre Selassie Mehreteab, 76, of West Chester, cofounder and former chief executive officer for the National Housing Partnership, former urban poverty program officer for the Ford Foundation, onetime senior executive for the New World Foundation, national community redevelopment expert, social justice activist, and volunteer, died Thursday, Aug. 7, of heart failure at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Mehreteab came to the United States from Eritrea, in East Africa, in 1968 to attend college, and he spent the next five decades working to expand social justice and increase affordable housing across the country. He led the NHP from Washington from 1989 to 2009 and helped develop 10,000 affordable housing units in 47 states.
He testified before Congress as an expert on all kinds of housing issues and spearheaded the housing recovery effort in devastated New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He later worked as a senior consultant on major housing and cultural building projects in Detroit, San Diego, Washington, Florida, and elsewhere.
New York Times columnist Bob Herbert called him a “middle-aged bundle of energy” during the New Orleans redevelopment in 2007 and ended one column with: “Gabe and the NHP Foundation have provided at least one model that works.”
In a tribute, Mr. Mehreteab’s family said: “His legacy lives on in the families who now have a place to call home because of his work.”
In the 1980s, he was director of the National Housing Conference, vice president of the National Corp. for Housing Partnerships, and grant manager for the Ford Foundation. In the late 1970s, he worked on projects for the New World Foundation in New York.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Haverford College in 1972, and, as a leader of the Black Students League, organized protests over the school’s lack of Black students and professors, and support for current Black students.
After college, he stayed in the Philadelphia area until 1976 and worked to strengthen the Germantown YMCA, East Mount Airy Neighbors, and other local groups. “Haverford remained a touchstone throughout his life, and the values it cultivated in him for service remained hallmarks of his work,” his family said.
He campaigned for Philadelphia U.S. Rep. William Gray III in the 1980s, and Haverford awarded him an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 2007 for his achievements and contributions. In tributes, friends and colleagues called him “remarkable and generous” and “a joyful presence.”
Avery Rome, longtime journalist, teacher, and former editor at The Inquirer, said: “He was delightful with a great sense of fun. Yet you could also sense his commitment to helping others and figuring out the best strategy to make an impact.”
Mr. Mehreteab offered support and guidance to independence leaders in his native Eritrea, once part of Ethiopia, in the 1970s and ’80s, and represented the movement before the World Court. Eritrea gained independence in 1993, and the Eritrean Development Foundation gave him a humanitarian award in 2007.
He served on boards at Douglas Emmett, the Lockhart Companies, Pembrook Realty Capital, and Delaware Valley Friends School. He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Cosmos Club, and Sigma Pi Phi Epsilon fraternity.
“He loved people and networking,” said his brother Efrem. Mr. Mehreteab said in an online interview: “I’m always leery of people who say ‘I made it by myself.’ That’s a myth. ... There are always other people who made it possible.”
Ghebre Selassie Mehreteab was born June 29, 1949, in Adi Gebray, Eritrea. The second of 10 children, he read novels and newspapers when he was young, and, generous throughout his life, gave his own possessions to others he found in need.
He was introduced to lawyer and politician Harris Wofford, then the head of the Peace Corps in Ethiopia, when he was in middle school, and Wofford later helped him earn a college scholarship and immigrate to the United States. He spent two years at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury before transferring to Haverford.
He met Sally Jones in Philadelphia in the late 1970s. They married in 1988, and he welcomed her two grandchildren warmly into his family. He and his wife divorced later and remained friends. She died earlier.
Mr. Mehreteab was an avid reader of history books and political biographies. His memory for names and events amazed his family and friends. He moved to West Chester about 10 years ago.
“Gabe wanted to understand the world in all its details, big and small,” said his older brother, Ammanuel. “That hunger for knowledge shaped the way he thought, the way he connected with people, and the way he made a difference in the lives around him.”
He helped his siblings immigrate to the United States, mentored his nieces and nephews, and was active with the Haverford Alumni of Color group. “Most people might transform one or two lives in their lifetime,” said his niece Sabra. “But Gabe did it again and again.”
His family said: “His life was marked not only by a steadfast commitment to justice and opportunity for all but also by the humor and youthful energy that he brought into every room he entered.”
Mr. Mehreteab is survived by five brothers, four sisters, 25 nieces and nephews, and other relatives.
Services were held Aug. 16.