By CHRISTOPHER MUNZING
The founder of both Project Challenge and the West End Neighbors, Mr. White died on Friday, Sept. 26, after a short illness. He was 71.
"Sometimes someone dies and their shoes can never be filled," said longtime friend and fellow activist Jim Conlon. "John's shoes will never be filled. People may take his place, but they'll never have John's passion."
Mr. White grew up in the Bronx and worked for years for Con Edison. He and his wife, Pat, had a large family, with four sons. When Pat died of breast cancer at age 37, John raised his boys by himself. After his retirement from Con Ed, he moved to Long Beach and entrenched himself in the West End.
Mr. White's passion was always focused on helping others. He founded the West End Neighbors, a civic organization designed to provide the West End community with a united voice and help create a better Long Beach. He also created Project Challenge, an organization devoted to helping people both young and old do something constructive with their time. Project Challenge offered classes, trips and activities and never turned away anyone in need.
Mr. White was instrumental in helping many Hispanic children and adults learn to read and write English and learn computer skills. He created a free after-school tutoring program for elementary-school children who needed extra help at the West, Lido and Lindell schools. Even if you didn't see him, his presence was felt at any number of functions.
"His main mission in life was to make sure all of the children were taken care of," said Tracey Walls, an executive assistant at Project Challenge. "If there was any way he could help anyone, he would do it."
Project Challenge also provided services for seniors, such as food shopping for the homebound and free flu shots through Long Beach Medical Center. Mr. White also persuaded the Nassau County Medical Center to bring their free mammography unit to Long Beach. After his wife's death, mammograms became an important issue for him.
Though Mr. White was an activist in every sense of the word, his passion would sometimes get the best of him. "He was one of my best friends, but we didn't always agree," laughed Conlon. "But whether you agreed or not, he always did it because he thought it was right."
If somebody had a problem and didn't know where to turn, they could always turn to Mr. White. "He'd go down there or make a call," Conlon said, "and all of the sudden your little problem got the attention you thought it deserved."
"He was the West End," said former West End Neighbors president Denise Ford. "He was a great friend, he was a mentor. The West End owes him a lot." Mr. White was instrumental in getting the dunes built along the West End as well as getting Ocean View re-paved.
"He had such a soft, compassionate heart for so many people," said Ford. "It's a big, big hole in all our hearts."
"The man had a deep reservoir of energy and love," said friend and colleague Sharon Monahan Renzulli in a letter to the Herald. "No one was turned away from his West Beech Street office. He loved to engage people and help them on their journey. No one can take his place."
Longtime friend Matt Dwyer said that under Mr. White's well-known gruff exterior was a heart of gold. The people of Long Beach, he said, could learn a lot from John. "He was always doing for others, not for himself," Dwyer said. "He showed us that while we can get by on our own, we can get by better working together."
Conlon was amazed at the number of people at Mr. White's wake recently. Not just the elected officials and political figures, but the number of everyday, working-class people in attendance spoke volumes of the extent of his reach.
Mr. White is survived by his sons, Kevin, Michael, John and Christopher, a sister, Mary O'Neill, and five grandchildren.
Viewings were held on Monday and Tuesday at Macken Mortuary in Island Park. A funeral mass took place on Wednesday at St. Mary of the Isle Roman Catholic Church in Long Beach. Interment will be at Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, N.Y.
