Leroy Looper | |
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Born | Leroy Branch Looper November 24, 1924 |
Died | September 11, 2011 San Francisco, CA, U.S. | (aged 86)
Alma mater | Antioch University West |
Occupation(s) | Activist, Community organizer, Entrepreneur |
Known for | Co-founding the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, the Cadillac Hotel, Reality House West, and YouthBuild USA. |
Awards | NEN Hall of Fame 2011 [2] |
Leroy Branch Looper (November 24, 1924 – September 11, 2011), was an American community organizer and founder of several low-income housing facilities, programs for addiction recovery, and education initiatives in San Francisco. He was known by locals as "the father of the Tenderloin".[3]
In 1979, Looper purchased the Cadillac Hotel in the Tenderloin, with the goal of saving the building and creating housing for the unhoused in the city within the single-residence occupancy (SRO) building.[4][5]