116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Youth advocate Henry Davison dies
Henry Davison, an advocate for Cedar Rapids youth and founder of the HD Youth Center, has died.
'People will remember him as an innovator and a driven person,” said Steve Springer, chairman of the center's board. ' ... He was a pillar of the community, and he was unstoppable.”
Davison, 92, opened the nonprofit HD Youth Center in 1997 to give children a safe place to go after school, as well as tutoring, mentoring and meals.
He supported the children and teenagers at the center while holding them to high standards, Springer said. When the 2008 flood closed the safe haven, Davison fought to reopen the center in 2013 at 1445 Mount Vernon Road SE.
Although his health at times kept him from the center, Davison remained committed to Cedar Rapids youth throughout his life.
'I think Henry will be with us,” Springer said. 'He'll be with the youth center forever - and with me forever, too. He's one of those people we'll remember.”
In a social media post, HD Youth Center Director Ishmael Tureaud said Davison was 'a philanthropist, a humanitarian, a father to many, an inspiration, a legacy in (his) own.”
'There are so many stories we have heard of how you helped many children, many parents of children but most of all, many people,” Tureaud, who spent time as a child at the center, said in a Facebook post.
Born in 1927 in Jackson, Miss., Davison's life was 'quite the story,” said Springer, who helped Davison write his 2018 book, 'Henry Davison: You Can Be What You Want To Be.”
Funeral services have not yet been announced.
l Comments: (319) 398-8330; molly.duffy@thegazette.com
Henry Davison (left), laughs with Beverly Christner of Cedar Rapids at Davison's surprise party for his 75th birthday at the HD Youth Center in southeast Cedar Rapids. (Gazette file)
This picture, one of many in the book 'Iowa's Black Legacy,' shows Henry Davison of Cedar Rapids during his military service in Korea in 1953. (Submitted photo)
Henry Davison talks on the phone in front of his flood-damaged HD Youth Center along Third Street SE on Thursday, June 19, 2008, in southeast Cedar Rapids. Davison had a list of volunteers who would be coming to help clear the center of damaged items and begin cleaning. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Henry Davison, founder of HD Youth Center, talks with visitors on Thursday, March 20, 2014, during the official open house at the center in Cedar Rapids. After the flood, the center relocated to its current location at 1445 Mount Vernon Road SE Cedar Rapids and opened its doors last October. (Gazette file)
HD Youth Center breakfast program volunteer Scott Fuemmeler of Cedar Rapids hands a plate to volunteer Diane Knoll of Cedar Rapids to deliver to a diner while the center's founder, Henry Davison, looks on at the center's first post-flood breakfast at the Jane Boyd Community House on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008, in southeast Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)
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