By Phil Wilayto

Alan Farid Schintzius, activist, carpenter, restaurant founder, conscientious objector, Sufi-garbed Quaker, mayoral candidate, father and visionary, left this life on Dec. 5. He was 76.

Whether it was Occupy Richmond, the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, the struggle to block a baseball stadium from being built in Shockoe Bottom, opposing casinos or the fight to save the building that once housed Richmond Community Hospital, if there was a fight for justice in Richmond, Alan was there.

“Alan dedicated his life to leaving this world better [than] he found it by relentlessly pursuing love, beauty, and justice,” his family said in a public statement on social media following his death. “He is survived by his seven children, countless loved ones, dreamers, schemers, fellow travelers, and co-conspirators.”

Viola Baskerville, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates who teamed up with Alan on the hospital struggle, was quoted in Style Weekly as saying, “Richmond could not have been blessed with a better activist than Alan. He believed that ordinary people could do extraordinary things.”

According to Style, a public memorial will take place near Alan’s birth date in April.