Remembering Darrell Gerber

Darrell Gerber touched countless lives across Minnesota’s environmental community, leaving a legacy of collaboration and transformative action. As we mourn his sudden passing on November 14, we also celebrate the impact he had on the people and organizations around him. We were fortunate at Environmental Initiative to have Darrell on our board of directors for nine years where he helped shape our strategy with his humor, kindness, and intelligence.

Through this tribute, we, Michelle Stockness, board member and Mike Harley, executive director, wanted to take a moment to share our memories of Darrell. We hope this will prompt others to share their own memories of Darrell and the legacy he leaves behind in our community.

We also invite you to join us in celebrating Darrell’s life and work, while carrying forward the values he championed:

Celebration of Life

Saturday, Dec. 14
McNamara Alumni Center’s Memorial Hall
200 SE Oak St., Minneapolis, MN

Arrival 1:-1:30, program at 1:30.
Visitation and hor d’oeuvres to follow.

We are saddened to also acknowledge the tragic loss of Darrell’s wife, Ashley James, his father, Ervin Gerber, and his mother, Arloa Gerber in a recent car accident. The Celebration of Life will pay tribute to Darrell and Ashley, acknowledging the lasting influence they had on those who knew them and the love they shared with family, friends, and their communities.

From Michelle

I’d like to share my story about Darrell, and I’m guessing many of you have a similar story to mine. Looking back, I can see how much I valued Darrell as a friend and a colleague working in the environmental space, and how much he influenced me as a person. But for the last 13 years, he was simply Darrell and one of my go-to friends to talk with about water issues across the state.

Darrell and I met on the City of Minneapolis Community Environmental Advocacy Committee (CEAC) in 2011. This was an advisory group to the City comprised of residents who were community or business leaders. I was a younger engineer looking for a way to get plugged into environmental issues at a local level. He and I were on the ‘water team’ which started many years of meetings and coffee shop chats. He was the first person I met that was deliberately integrating engineering, environmentalism, policy, and community. And I loved it.

From there I continued to work with Darrell on CEAC, and then followed him to Environmental Initiative as a board member. I appreciated Darrell’s kind way to navigate difficult issues, and opposing views, while also holding true to make progress forward together. We’ve sat through some pretty bumpy meetings, where we all learned and grew from each other around issues of environmental justice, equity, and power. What was remarkable was the way he invited conversation, listened, and wasn’t judgmental, even if he didn’t agree. I aspire to be that way.

I’ll miss reviewing his notes from his crinkled legal notepads from his backpack. I’ll miss the fact that I had to set an alarm for when we met, because we tended to talk too long. I’ll love that he introduced me to sour beers, who knew I liked them! And I’ll really miss the way he made time to meet with me and connect about whatever random thing I had on my mind.

I’m realizing now how much Darrell, in his kind and supportive way, greatly influenced my career and the work I do today. He opened my eyes to a better way to weave together the work of environmental, community, policy, and water issues. I’m grateful I got to know him and am so proud of the work he did for water and people across Minnesota. I aspire to be the welcoming friend and collaborator and teammate that he was to so many of us.

From Mike

I learned the news of Darrell’s death in the middle of a workday. It hit me hard, and I remember feeling completely at a loss, paralyzed, and unable to even react at first. Of course, the loss of Darrell was a shock, totally out of the blue and unexpected at such a young age. More than that, though, my reaction was to the loss of someone who has consistently been there for me and for our organization from the very first time I met him as a grad student at the Humphrey School.

When you work in a job for nearly three decades, countless people come and go from daily life and from regular interaction – and amid that swirl some people stick. Darrell was one of those people and we stayed in close relationship as he moved into jobs at several environmental organizations and eventually as he moved out of that work and into his next career. Through all of that, his commitment to our organization, Environmental Initiative, was equally constant, first as a partner, then as a board member serving to the term limit of nine years, and finally as a supporter. In every version of that, Darrell stood out as a super engaged volunteer and a good friend.

I think that what made Darrell stick to me, to our organization and to so many worthwhile causes and good people was the heart that he brought into everything that he did, his deep care for people, and his natural ability to bring people together across difference. Darrell was exceptional in his care, in how fully he engaged and gave of himself, and in how be brought loving service into the world.

One of my fondest memories of Darrell was not a single memory, but something that happened to the two of us many times. We ended up at a lot of environmental events together over the years, and almost every time, the event would end and people would linger until they slowly trickled away. Eventually, Darrell and I would realize that everyone who was not on the staff of the hosting organization was already gone, and that it was in good taste for us to excuse ourselves as well. Darrell knew so many people, and he loved connecting with them. Time was the last thing on his mind.

Darrell served on Environmental Initiative’s board in one of our most tense and transformative moments, and he showed up with his whole self for us. His voice was one of the principal ones urging us forward toward an embrace of environmental justice and relationship with the communities that are most impacted by pollution.

This was a long commitment for Darrell, and he helped it become a core commitment of our organization. This is just one aspect of the legacy of Darrell’s leadership, and it is one of many ways that he continues to live on and have influence in the world that he has left far too soon.