The Rev. Marguerite Moore Handy, church and City Hall leader
The Rev. Marguerite Moore Handy, 72, executive director of Mayor Nutter's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, died Tuesday, Feb. 15, at her home in West Philadelphia.
The Rev. Marguerite Moore Handy, 72, executive director of Mayor Nutter's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, died Tuesday, Feb. 15, at her home in West Philadelphia.
Nutter said in a news release that Ms. Handy "was a woman of faith, a strong advocate for the vulnerable, a true friend to everyone she knew, and a beautiful person.
"She cared deeply about government's role in improving the lives of people all across the city. . . . We know her legacy will continue to affect the lives of the communities she selflessly and tirelessly served," he said.
U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.) said in a separate news release: "Her deep faith was matched only by her work ethic, her positive attitude, and the results she achieved."
He said her "contributions to Philadelphia's faith community, its civic life, and most vulnerable citizens - in terms of HIV-AIDS education, the Peaceful Surrender program, and so much more - will be her monument as we mourn her sudden passing."
Besides her City Hall work, Ms. Handy was associate minister of Mount Pisgah A.M.E. Church in West Philadelphia.
The Rev. Jay Broadnax, pastor of Mount Pisgah, said Ms. Handy had been chief of protocol for the African Methodist Episcopal Church's First Episcopal District, which covers New England, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and eastern Pennsylvania.
In one of her most recent City Hall initiatives, Ms. Handy persuaded Clear Channel Outdoors to donate five billboards in neighborhoods with records of high HIV infection.
The message on them, The Inquirer reported in November, was, "We Have Been Tested for HIV, Have You?" Ms. Handy's photo was on the billboards, which carried endorsements by Baptist, A.M.E., and Muslim clergy.
In 2009, she earned a doctor of divinity degree at the Full Gospel Baptist Bible Institute in Nicetown.
A 2009 Inquirer report stated that her office "has helped put together fugitive safe-surrender programs, in which nonviolent fugitives can turn themselves in at a church. And it has created some of the 160 mentoring partnerships between public schools and congregations."
A 2007 Philadelphia Daily News report on that effort stated that Ms. Handy said some of the bigger schools, such as Germantown and Olney High Schools, had two or three faith-based partners. Congregations often have large numbers of retired teachers and other professionals who have the time to get to know the students one on one.
A 2004 news report identified Ms. Handy as general secretary of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, which represented 450 congregations.
The previous year, the article said, she was religious-outreach coordinator for the reelection campaign of Mayor John F. Street. In that job, she persuaded about 40 churches to host evening-prayer vigils, which featured preaching, prayer, and, she said, "the mayor speaking from his heart."
Street later named her to the Faith-Based Initiatives Office.
Ms. Handy was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Sayre High School in West Philadelphia, said a son, Douglas.
The Faith-Based Initiatives Office stated that "she has served as a consultant to Keystone Mercy Health Plan in the development and implementation of the highly successful Women Health Ministry Program."
She was vice president, her office said, for "the Faith & Community Partners Inc. for the School District of Philadelphia" and a member of the District Attorney's Advisory Board.
Her office said she was executive secretary of the Parkside Historic Preservation Corp. and, for more than 12 years, secretary of the African Methodist Episcopal Preacher's Meeting.
"In March 2008," her office said, "the NAACP honored Rev. Handy as one of the most distinguished women in Philadelphia; [in] October 2008 she received the 'Good Servant Award' from the Salvation Army."
Besides her son Douglas, Ms. Handy is survived by sons Christopher and Kenneth, daughter Pamela, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A viewing was set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22, at Mount Pisgah A.M.E. Church, 428 N. 41st St., where a funeral service will begin at 11. Burial will be in Fernwood Cemetery, Yeadon.