Michelle Widgins-Lewis, singer/songwriter and founder and CEO of Northwest Counseling Service, has died at 69
She interviewed nearly 5,000 people each year seeking mortgage prequalification and advised them about insurance, eviction, credit rating, grants, conflict mediation, and inspections.
Michelle Widgins-Lewis, 69, of Philadelphia, singer/songwriter, founder, president, and executive director of Northwest Counseling Service Inc., longtime community housing and education advocate, lecturer, and mentor, died Monday, June 29, of endometrial cancer at Jefferson Abington Hospital.
Inspired to educate and counsel underserved potential homebuyers about predatory mortgage lending, foreclosure, and other important real estate and housing issues, Ms. Widgins-Lewis founded Northwest Counseling Service on North Broad Street in 1982. For the next 44 years, until recently, she interviewed nearly 5,000 people each year seeking mortgage prequalification and, funded by the city’s Division of Housing and Community Development, advised them about insurance, eviction, credit rating, grants, conflict mediation, and inspections.
“She helped transform homeownership in Philadelphia,” her family said in a tribute.
Ms. Widgins-Lewis was appointed to the Pennsylvania Housing Advisory Committee in the 1990s by then Gov. Ed Rendell and served as a technical adviser on real estate matters for the city’s Division of Housing and Community Development. She worked closely with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and continually lobbied local, state, and federal government officials for better borrowing and foreclosure laws.
She examined property disputes as a forensic real estate specialist, scrutinized scams as a fraud examiner, testified in federal court as a qualified expert, and was licensed as a real estate broker and appraiser. She monitored local landlord-tenant mediation cases closely and told The Inquirer in 1996 that many tenants “end up with an agreement they can’t live up to.”
People, she said often, are rarely ready to buy their first house. “Instead of considering whether they are prepared to buy a home, people are being propelled into the market by economic pressure that says they should buy because it’s cheaper than renting,” she told The Inquirer in 1995. “That’s not always true.”
She also founded and chaired the Philadelphia Predatory Lending Task Force that collected and publicized data about unfair lending practices. “This gives us a picture of the type of problems going on in our neighborhoods,” she told the Daily News in 2001.
Ms. Widgins-Lewis was an instructor for the National Real Estate Institute and a leader for the American Society of Certified Housing Executives, the Real Estate Educators Association, and other groups. She wrote articles for journals and forged educational partnerships with colleges and universities.
She spoke on panels and at conferences and workshops about homeownership, and was quoted often in The Inquirer and Daily News. Friends called her “truly inspiring” and “a true champion in the mortgage industry” in online tributes. One friend said: “She was a beast in the housing world.”
Ms. Widgins-Lewis sang often as a young girl, got rave reviews on karaoke night when she was older, and went on to perform in several bands and with her sister Dionne at local clubs and festivals. She sang rhythm and blues, pop, standard, and jazz, and wrote at least one song that was recorded and released.
Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky wrote about her dual career as a singer/songwriter and executive in 1995 and said: “She still has trouble calling herself an artist but feels, at the very least, she’ll always be able to get up and sing at fundraisers for her agency.”
Her family said: “From childhood, Michelle drew people in with her light and her voice.” Her daughter Tracey Thomas said: “She would light up the room.” Her son Mike said: “Everybody loved her.”
Michelle Widgins was born May 29, 1957, in Philadelphia. She graduated from Martin Luther King High School and earned a bachelor’s degree at La Salle University and a master’s degree in human services at Lincoln University.
She married Michael Brown, and they had a daughter, Anji, and a son, Mike. After a divorce, she married Tyrone Lewis, and they had a daughter, Tracey, and a son, Richard. They divorced later.
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Ms. Widgins-Lewis enjoyed reading and writing. She belonged to the Pi Gamma Mu international honor society, was close with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and former Mayor Wilson Goode, and guided by, her family said, “an unwavering commitment to education, integrity, and service.”
Her family is hoping to rename a Northwest Philadelphia street in her honor.
“She was humble but had drive and determination,” her son Mike said. Her daughter Tracey said: “The world was her stage. I can only imagine how her light will shine in heaven.”
In addition to her children and former husbands, Ms. Widgins-Lewis is survived by eight grandchildren, a sister, two brothers, and other relatives. A sister and a brother died earlier.
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Services are to be at 11 a.m., Thursday, July 16, at Verity Church, 2017 W. Diamond St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19121.
Donations in her name may be made to Northwest Counseling Service Inc., 6521 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19126.
