Dearly Departed

Remembering some notable Richmonders we lost in 2020

Jim Wark

(Feb. 7)

The Richmond Folk Festival didn’t occur in person this year, and the only aspect of greater sadness was that Jim Wark can no longer remind us of its values or work for a big comeback next year. The invaluable volunteer and organizer embodied the best of the fest. A publisher of Style Weekly who became CEO of the Virginia Voice, he was also a third-grade teacher at Blackwell Elementary school. Beloved for his musical abilities and good humor, Wark played electric guitar with the Janet Martin Band, Chrome Daddy Disco and in the annual Rock and Roll Jubilee. —Chad Anderson

Debo Dabney

(April 9)

Jazz pianist Debo Dabney was locally beloved, and the feeling was mutual. Onstage at local clubs, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, various benefits, or at virtually every edition of the 2nd Street Festival, he embodied joyous artistry, exhibiting deep technique overlaid with pure fun. His solos were at once brilliantly imaginative and laden with smart, humorous quotes. There was a dizzying sense of play in his performances, sweeping audiences into the air with right-hand melodies and pulling them back with a rhythmically harmonic left. If Thelonious Monk ever played in a ’70s funk band on “Soul Train,” he might have sounded a bit like Dabney. —Peter McElhinney

Bishop Gerald Glenn

(April 11)

Regarded as an influential member of the Richmond area faith community, Glenn was the founder and senior pastor of New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in north Chesterfield County. Described by his wife, Marcietia, as a “pastor’s pastor,” Glenn gained a loyal following at the area church since its founding in 1995 and served as a chaplain for the Chesterfield Police Department. He died of COVID-19 complications one day before Easter, and he leaves behind his wife, five children and 10 grandchildren. —Rodrigo Arriaza

Lisa Anne Phipps

(April 27)

Lisa Anne Phipps, known as “L.A.” or “Lala,” a vivacious and fashion-conscious Carytown entrepreneur and theatrical personality, died suddenly from a heart attack. The Norfolk native graduated in 1989 from Virginia Commonwealth University in fashion merchandising. She began her retail career with the Pink Cadillac in Carytown, one of that district’s premier interpreters of fashion. The shop set Carytown along on course for acknowledging the Now. “We used to call it ‘a mile of style,’ Phipps told Richmond magazine in early 2020, when manager of Cary Court’s Crème de la Crème gift shop, and the public liaison for the Carytown Merchants Association. “Carytown is very important to the economy of Richmond. People know it. People love it. People complain about parking, but they still come.” She became a member of the Halloween Haunt group at Kings Dominion that united her passions of entertaining, acting and design. Friends established a GoFundMe campaign for celebrating her memory, a scholarship, and a memorial.– Harry Kollatz Jr.

Oliver Hill Jr.

(July 7)

The son of famed civil rights lawyer Oliver Hill, Dr. Oliver Hill Jr. was a devoted educator who carved his own path in the fight for racial justice. During his 38-year career as a psychology professor at Virginia State University, Hill advocated for equal access to higher education and was instrumental in bringing the Algebra Project, a national mathematics literacy program, to the Petersburg school. “He was a great man and a nationally renowned professor, researcher and scientist,” said a statement from the school following his death. —RA

Bill Royall

(July 25) 

From delivering The Washington Post as a kid to starting a direct mail company for nonprofit and political organizations, Bill Royall devoted his considerable entrepreneurial energies to improving the lives of young people seeking educational opportunities and to recognizing the value of art. He and wife Pam created the Try-Me Gallery to house and exhibit their extensive art collection and provide a gathering space for the community. He served on the board of the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU and as president of the board of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The Royalls also helped make possible Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War” sculpture for the VMFA. —Harry Kollatz Jr.

John Hager

(Aug. 23)

Former Virginia Lt. Gov. John Hager’s death brought nostalgia for a time when politics wasn’t so divisive, when a proud Republican like Hager accepted then-Democratic Gov. Mark Warner’s 2002 invitation to lead the Office of Commonwealth Preparedness. A U.S. Army veteran, Hager was an executive with American Tobacco Co. when he contracted polio in 1973, requiring him to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Not that it slowed him down: Hager continued to work for American Tobacco until 1994, served as lieutenant governor from 1998 to 2002, and was later chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. —CA

John Thrower

(Sept. 23)

As the pandemic continues to reshape our lives, it has also brought a renewed appreciation for so-called essential workers — people like bus operator John Thrower, a five-year veteran of GRTC who died from complications due to the coronavirus after a five-week battle with COVID-19. “He did everything he could to safely serve the public during this crisis while volunteering many hours and days of overtime to support the essential mobility needs of our community,” said GRTC CEO Julie Timm in a statement. —CA

Myron Helfgott

(Sept. 25)

Before virtual reality, artist Myron Helfgott’s often elaborate constructed works provided experiential and immersive experiences. The native Chicagoan moved to Richmond in 1968 and spent 35 years teaching at Virginia Commonwealth University, eventually chairing the sculpture department. “I live my life the way I make my work,” Helfgott said in his 2006 Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts interview. “I start on the path, don’t know where it’s headed, I don’t know anything about it and have to wait to see how it turns out.” —HK

Sister Faye 

(Dec. 1) 

Affectionately known as Sister Faye, Faye Bettina Walker was a founding member of Ezibu Muntu, the Richmond-based African dance company and cultural foundation. Ezibu Muntu started as a student organization at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1973, led by Tanya Dennis. Dennis moved to California in 1975, leaving the company in the hands of Renee Knight Lacy, who is now the executive director, and Walker, who was the organization’s artistic director and served on its board.  She also worked as an educator for more than 30 years, spending much of that time with the Virginia Department of Corrections. In addition, she taught dance at VCU for 13 years, introducing African dance and culture to hundreds of students. Walker died from heart disease and was laid to rest with a colorful homegoing ceremony in Hampton, attended by her daughter, Mayah, and a family of dancers, drummers and singers who shared the gifts she had given them. —Julinda Lewis

Mamye BaCote 

(Dec. 14) 

While attending Richmond’s Virginia Union University, Mamye BaCote joined a group of students who became known as the “Richmond 34.” On Feb. 22, 1960, they sat in at the segregated Richmond Room restaurant of the downtown Thalhimer’s department store. Their arrest for trespassing went through appeals until it reached the United States Supreme Court, which overturned the charges three years later. The decision ended Virginia’s segregation of public places. BaCote, who taught social studies in Newport News public schools, won election to the Newport News City Council, where she served from 1996-2003. She was then elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, where, as a member of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, she served through 2015. While on the House Appropriations Committee, she fought for establishing the Newport News Drug Court that stressed rehabilitation. “She could seem stern, the teacher in her, but you’d look closely and see that glint of joy in her eye,” recalled State Sen. Jennifer McClellan, (D) Richmond, in the Daily Press. “She’d be very serious when the time came, but there was always that sense of joy.”  BaCote was 81. —HK