Marlowe Stoudamire, a 43-year-old speaker, business strategist and entrepreneur, is among the growing number of Michiganders who have lost their lives to the coronavirus.

Stoudamire is remembered as a beloved Detroit advocate who possessed a true passion for community.

Stoudamire served as chief of staff at The Skillman Foundation and as project director of international business strategy at Henry Ford Health System. He led the Detroit Historical Society’s award-winning and groundbreaking Detroit 67: Looking Back to MOVE FORWARD project, receiving the 2018 IMLS National Medal – the nation's highest award bestowed to museums and libraries.

Marlowe was helping a number of foundations in the region think differently about economic development from a Detroit neighborhood and nonprofit perspective. He was a thought leader and well-known by many of our CMF members in the metro Detroit region. 

“He had a unique ability to bring people together, curating talent and energy to help us all envision a different future together,” Tonya Allen, president and CEO of The Skillman Foundation shared on Facebook.

The Detroit News shared “Friends and coworkers knew him as a transformational leader, a family man and someone who ‘embodied Detroit through and through.’"

“Marlowe Stoudamire was my friend,” Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist shared on Twitter. “A man whose passion for people was only exceeded by his passion for purpose-driven community building. Our world will not be the same without his presence.”

Over the years Marlowe was also connected to CMF’s Michigan Forum for African Americans in Philanthropy (MFAAP) Affinity Group, participating in events and serving as a speaker.

As of Sunday evening, March 29, more than 130 people in Michigan have died as a result of COVID-19.