It is with profound sadness that the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) announces the sudden and unexpected death of our leader, maurilio león on Friday, February 23 in Oakland, California.
As Chief Executive Officer, maurilio led the staff at TNDC with humility and served the people of San Francisco with a fierce passion for housing justice. At TNDC, he leveraged his innovative leadership and his vast experience in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors to preserve communities, develop neighborhoods, and build housing opportunities for the City’s most vulnerable residents. His legacy will be felt in the Tenderloin and throughout all of San Francisco. The residents he stably housed and the buildings he erected will be enduring monuments to his public service.
His pursuit of affordable housing as a matter of social justice for low-income, working-class individuals and families was inflected by lived experience and powered by his education. Born into a Mexican immigrant farm-working family, maurilio became the first member of his family to attend college thanks in part to opportunity programs like the Migrant Education and federal TRIO Programs. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and earned a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. He dedicated his personal and professional life to fostering opportunity, equity, and generational change for immigrants, low-income families, and families of color.
We grieve this tragic loss with maurilio’s family and his many friends. We remember him for the incredible leader, mentor, and friend that he was. His impact on TNDC and our lives will forever be cherished.
