Marie Cowser, 49, of Atlanta died Sunday from complications of lung cancer at Piedmont Hospital. The funeral will be 11 a.m. Friday at Liberty Baptist Church in Atlanta. Willie Watkins Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Marie Cowser epitomized the words community activist.
She was the voice for the voiceless and underserved who lived in her neighborhood — Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward. She worked for the Historic District Development Corp., or HDDC, a nonprofit that oversees the preservation and revitalization of the Martin Luther King Jr. residential area.
“I have to say Marie wore her heart on her sleeve,” said Joan Garner, who has lived in the Fourth Ward since 1996. “When I was on the HDDC board, she was always there at every board meeting, at every community meeting. If you wanted someone to be a community activist, she was top-notch.”
At the HDDC, Ms. Cowser was the community programs director. In that role and others, she organized or took part in projects big and small, from neighborhood cleanups to assistance for first-time home buyers. She worked to ensure that revitalization funds were used properly in the inner-city neighborhood.
As a member of the city license review board, she made sure corner stores were properly licensed to sell alcohol, Mrs. Garner said.
In the 1980s, concerned Fourth Ward residents formed a group to combat neighborhood decay. It’s where Helene Mills met Ms. Cowser. The two activists hit it off.
“We started working together and she sort of took to me like another mother,” Mrs. Mills said. “We worked together on all projects, and continued to work together when she joined the HDDC. If I had to describe her, she was really the person who took care of, and knew the needs of most of the residents in the neighborhood. She was the glue.”
Among other posts, Ms. Cowser had served as vice chairwoman of the now-defunct Atlanta Empowerment Board and chairwoman of the Community Empowerment Advisory Board. Last July, the Atlanta City Council presented Ms. Cowser with a proclamation in recognition of her efforts.
Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall called Ms. Cower the “moral compass” for the Fourth Ward’s redevelopment. “She mentored a generation of neighborhood leaders,” he wrote in a statement. “Our aspirations for the city as a whole have Marie’s values and her tenacity at its center.”
Survivors include her mother, Rachel Benoni of Orlando; two sisters, Susan Cowser-Bailey of Atlanta and Melvine Cowser-Perkins of Bowie, Md.; a daughter, Giovanni Daou of Atlanta; a brother, Jimmy Ray Cowser of Riverdale; and a grandson.
