Marshall Truehill

The Rev. Marshall Truehill Jr., a New Orleans activist and religious leader, has died after suffering a massive heart attack on Christmas Day, friends of the family confirmed Friday.

He was 60 years old.

"This guy was a giant among men," said Angela O'Byrne, an architect and urban planner who worked with Truehill on rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

"I so respected him. He was one of my heroes. He was the kind of guy that everyone in the community would listen to when he spoke."

Truehill was known for his ministry in public housing projects and, since 1973, he pursued improving the quality of life for residents. Truehill was appointed by former Mayor Marc Morial to the City Planning Commission in 1998.

"I am saddened by Rev. Dr. Marshall Truehill's untimely death," said Morial, now president and chief executive of the National Urban League, in a release late Friday. "His genuineness and fervor impressed me, and drew me toward him as a voice of unimpeachable integrity, and concern."

Truehill used his knowledge of planning and public policy with firsthand experience of New Orleans neighborhoods and its people to promote economic development and commerce while preserving the character and integrity of the city's historic neighborhoods.

Walter W. Gallas, director of the New Orleans field office for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, called Truehill's death "a great loss to the community."

"Marshall was able to eloquently express the plight of the public housing residents whose voices were stilled or ignored by city and federal officials. ... His manner was usually cool, calm and collected, but when he was provoked, an angry and defiant edge would creep into his voice, and those in the room would stop, look up, and listen to the words of this confident preacher," Gallas said.

Truehill, a native of New Orleans, was educated in the city's public schools. He received a bachelor's degree in music education from Xavier University, a bachelor of theology from Christian Bible College and both a Master's and Doctorate of Divinity degree from New Orleans Theological Seminary.

Truehill, founder and executive director of Faith In Action Evangelistic Team, Inc., and pastor of First United Baptist Church, is survived by his wife Miranda Farr Truehill, three daughters and two sons.

Visitation and funeral services are tentatively scheduled for Jan. 3 at the Church of Christian Unity in New Orleans.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)