Rev Cecil Williams dies at age 94 [View all]

https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/beloved-activist-humanitarian-and-reverend-cecil-19417051.php



Beloved San Francisco pastor and activist Rev. Cecil Williams died Monday at the age of 94.



Williams is best known for his stewardship of Glide Memorial Church in the city's Tenderloin, where he oversaw multiple community outreach projects to hundreds of thousands of impoverished residents for over six decades.

Though he retired as pastor in 2000, Glide continued its decades-long outreach to the poor and hungry through its massive Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners provided to anyone that wanted or needed one, along with day-to-day outreach and support that valued peoples' dignity and humanity.

"One very special thing about Cecil was that he met everyone where they were--literally and spiritually," said Oakland resident Ernestine Nettles, who met Williams when she was a child and has volunteered at Glide for over 50 years. "If you couldn't make it to the church to get a Thanksgiving meal, volunteers packed them up and brought them out to the streets, handing them out to everyone."