Angela Brown Wilson’s community work started at home as a teenager on the east side of Detroit. It took her across the city and all the way to Haiti.
The co-founder and chief operations officer for the nonprofit Eastside Community Network, died May 4 after a nearly yearlong battle with leukemia. She was 64.
The life-long east side resident is remembered for her kindness, steady nature and commitment to community work driven by her Catholic faith, those who knew her best said.
“The residents loved her. They felt like she loved them, and she was a very strong resident leader of our organization who was embedded in the community we were serving, and fought for us,” said Donna Givens Davidson, president and CEO of the Eastside Community Network in Detroit.
Wilson embodied the concept of “servant leader,” Davidson said, working nights, weekends and whenever needed. A social worker by training, Wilson had been a community activist since her youth as the Eastside Community Network, formerly known as the Warren Conner Development Coalition.
Maggie DeSantis, the founding executive director, knew Wilson since she was a teenager when the coalition was first forming in the late 1970s. DeSantis recalls Wilson as someone who was “wise beyond her years and extraordinarily committed.” Wilson was the second person DeSantis hired in 1985. She ran a youth program and grew it, eventually taking on director roles. Wilson was key to bringing a resident-invested shopping center to the east side along Mack Avenue and Alter Road — a response to a need community members had expressed.
“Her kindness is what everybody remembers the most,” DeSantis said. “No matter how frustrated she was, no matter how angry she might be, it was just in her bones — she did not have a mean bone in her body. She was also extraordinarily smart and strategic.”
Wilson ran for Detroit City Council in 1993 on a shoestring budget, DeSantis said, and though she didn’t make it to the general election, her campaign caught the attention of then mayor Dennis Archer. She left the coalition to work for Archer’s cabinet, but it was an agonizing decision, DeSantis said. She still served on the coalition’s board and when the organization raised money for an endowment, Wilson was the lead donor.
“She never left the organization, and never left that community,” DeSantis said.
Wilson worked other jobs but eventually found her way back to the Eastside Community Network staff. More recently, Wilson’s leadership helped the organization get energy efficiency upgrades, including roofs, furnaces and hot water tanks to 200 homes a year, Davidson said.
“When people say, ‘What is the best thing about Detroit,’ and it’s the people, and Angela is emblematic of what it means to be one of the best people on the east side, because she was literally one of the best people that I’ve ever known and I don’t say that lightly,” Davidson said. The Eastside Community Network is developing a nine acre outdoor wellness campus in her name, connecting the nonprofit’s building to nearby Manz Playfield.
Wilson’s Catholic faith guided her life.
Wilson was deeply involved with the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Detroit — “the Mother Church of Black Catholics in the Archdiocese of Detroit,” according to its website. At one point, she was a driver for the church and she was a minister of faith and served on the budget committee, among other roles.
Jean Merrill worked with Wilson on the church’s Haiti committee, which raises funds for a sister parish in the country. Wilson visited Haiti multiple times, relaying the needs of the Haitian church. That committee was “her baby,” Merrill said.
Even in her illness, when the doctor told Wilson her condition was terminal, she “stood strong with God,” said Deidre Redmon, her niece. To her family, Wilson was the glue, the rock — someone Redmon could call on. Wilson was like a mother to Redmon, she said, bringing her books, teaching her practical life skills and taking her on road trips.
“She was literally the kindest, most giving, compassionate, caring person I’ve ever met in my life,” Redmon said. “She always wanted to see everyone win. She wanted everyone to win and do well and live their best life.”
Wilson’s diagnosis came as a shock, Redmon said, and though her aunt briefly went into remission, the cancer returned with a vengeance. But she didn’t stop, living as best she could and making sure everyone else was OK. Even on the Sunday that Wilson died, she sat on Redmon’s couch, watching Redmon’s children play with their Nintendo Switch, taking it all in, laughing.
“She went in peace the same way she lived,” Redmon said.
Commemorations for Wilson poured in on social media.
“Angela was a passionate and dedicated advocate for Detroit’s neighborhoods — especially her beloved Eastside. Her tireless work, unwavering commitment, and deep love for community made a lasting impact on all who had the honor of working with her,” read a Facebook post from the Community Development Advocates of Detroit. “Angela’s legacy will live on through the lives she touched, the policies she shaped, and the communities she served so faithfully. We extend our deepest condolences to her family, colleagues, and all who knew and loved her. She will be dearly missed.”
Dream of Detroit, a nonprofit based on the west side of the city, posted on Facebook mourning the loss, remembering Wilson as “an incredibly committed public servant who spent her entire adult life working on behalf of everyday Detroiters.”
“We first crossed paths with Angela when she directed Young Detroit Builders and we were later blessed to work with her in the Coalition for Property Tax Justice. Angela brought a beautiful, justice-seeking, God-fearing spirit to her work. We know her beloved Eastside will miss her, but we’ll miss her over here too,” the post read.
Wilson was preceded in death by her husband, Errol Wilson; parents, Lillie and Bunnie Brown Sr.; sister, Jean Glover, and brother, Bunnie Brown Jr. She is survived by sisters Louise McCall and Denese Moore (Michael); brother, Samuel Williams (Amy), as well as several nieces and nephews, and a big extended, blended family.
WIlson’s memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. May 16 at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Detroit. Family hour is at 10:30 a.m.