By Lee Hubbard
The Reverend Arnold Townsend, a longtime Western Addition activist, mentor, and community leader, passed away recently at the age of 83.
A viewing will be held on Tuesday, October 29th, from 4 PM to 8 PM at Duggan’s Funeral Service, located at 3434 17th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110. The Celebration of Life service will take place on Wednesday, October 30th, at 11 AM at Third Baptist Church, 1399 McAllister Street, San Francisco, CA 94115. A repast will immediately follow at the African American Art & Culture Complex, located at 762 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94115.
“There was a wellness check on Reverend Townsend, and he was found deceased in his apartment,” said a saddened Reverend Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP and senior pastor at Third Baptist Church. “He was my road dog, and he got into good trouble, as John Lewis would say. He put his faith into action and was consistent in everything he did.”
Townsend was a living legend in the Fillmore and across San Francisco. Jovial yet serious, he could be seen walking through Fillmore, at Safeway during the day, and at community meetings late into the night. He was on the Board of Directors of the African American Art and Culture Complex and fought for racial justice in San Francisco for over 50 years.
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1940, and raised partially in Oklahoma, Townsend moved to Los Angeles with his family when he was six. After playing baseball in college, he was drafted into the Army and stationed in Korea. Following his service, he returned to California and lived between San Francisco and Los Angeles before enrolling at San Francisco State University. A member of the Black Student Union (BSU), Townsend was instrumental in helping lead the students to establish the Black Studies Department at the university.
“He, along with Danny Glover and other activists, were pioneers in pushing San Francisco State to found the first Black Studies Department in the nation,” continued Reverend Brown. “Arnold Townsend played a key role in that.”
Townsend was also heavily involved in the fight against the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency in the Fillmore. He headed WayPac, a watchdog group that monitored the agency’s actions after its redevelopment efforts effectively decimated the Fillmore in the 1960s.
He was a fixture in the community, tirelessly working to make the Fillmore a better place for Black people in San Francisco. Two days after his passing, people from across the city gathered at the Sheba Lounge on Fillmore Street, one of Townsend’s favorite spots, to remember him fondly and toast to his legacy.
“Arnold was always there for the people of the Fillmore, and he dedicated his life to this community,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who visited the lounge to honor Townsend. “This is an incredible loss for our community.” Mayor Breed recalled with a wide smile that Townsend baptized her at First Union Baptist Church when she was a child, underscoring how deeply intertwined he was with her own life.
“Arnold was a standup man,” said Madrid Johnson, an assistant pastor at First Union Church and a local business owner. “I knew him in different capacities, and he was always a positive and uplifting figure.”
“Arnold was a neighborhood historian,” said Ace Washington. “He needed to put things in a book because he had a wealth of information about Fillmore and San Francisco history.”
Washington first met Townsend in the mid-1970s when Townsend worked as a radio personality on KPOO 89.5 FM. At the time, Townsend was also working with Willie Brown, who was then a member of the California State Legislature. Over the years, Townsend collaborated with numerous San Francisco nonprofits and, before his death, was serving as the assistant president of the San Francisco NAACP.
“He did a lot politically and socially, securing housing, jobs, and civic involvement for Black San Franciscans,” said Howard Smith, a Fillmore community activist. “Arnold was like an uncle, a mentor, and a pillar of the community. He was one of the key figures who went to Washington, D.C., to secure funding for the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. He will be hard to replace.”
