New Orleans housing activist

The Rev. Marshall Truehill Jr., 60, a New Orleans activist and religious leader who protested the destruction of low-income housing after Hurricane Katrina, died after a heart attack on Christmas Day in New Orleans.

Truehill was known for his ministry in public housing projects, and, since 1973, he had pursued improving the quality of life for residents. Truehill was appointed by former Mayor Marc Morial to the City Planning Commission in 1998.

Truehill used his knowledge of planning and public policy, with firsthand experience of New Orleans neighborhoods and its people, to promote economic development and commerce while preserving the character and integrity of the city’s historic neighborhoods.

Walter W. Gallas, director of the New Orleans field office for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, called Truehill’s death “a great loss to the community.”

“Marshall was able to eloquently express the plight of the public housing residents whose voices were stilled or ignored by city and federal officials. . . . His manner was usually cool, calm and collected, but when he was provoked, an angry and defiant edge would creep into his voice, and those in the room would stop, look up, and listen to the words of this confident preacher,” Gallas said.

Born Sept. 5, 1948, in New Orleans, Truehill was educated in the city’s public schools. He received a bachelor’s degree in music education from Xavier University, a bachelor of theology from Christian Bible College, a master’s and a doctorate of divinity from New Orleans Theological Seminary, and a doctorate in urban studies from the University of New Orleans.

Truehill was founder and executive director of Faith in Action Evangelistic Team Inc. and pastor of First United Baptist Church, a biracial church that did not reopen after Katrina and subsequent flooding devastated the city in 2005.