{"id":2502,"date":"2025-08-08T11:02:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T15:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/?post_type=article&p=2502"},"modified":"2025-08-22T09:46:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T13:46:27","slug":"common-cause-ohio-mourns-the-loss-of-board-chair-sam-gresham","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/common-cause-ohio-mourns-the-loss-of-board-chair-sam-gresham\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Cause Ohio Mourns the Loss of Board Chair Sam Gresham"},"template":"","class_list":["post-2502","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","article_type-blog-post"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Sam was a persistent, insightful champion for a democracy that works for all of us.","featured_image":"","article_type":153,"authors":"","related_issues":[62,420],"related_work":[169],"location":38},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"[caption id=\"attachment_44435\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1024\"]\"\" Sam Gresham testifying before the Ohio Redistricting Commission on September 14, 2021[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSam Gresham, life long advocate and chair of Common Cause Ohio, passed away on Thursday, August 7. A dear friend and colleague, and an iconic and irrepressible voice for civil rights and equality, Sam will be deeply missed by us and by the larger community of democracy advocates.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nSam was a persistent, insightful champion for a democracy that works for all of us. His fight against gerrymandering began twenty years ago during the Reform Ohio Now effort. He kept up the steady call for fair maps. He was instrumental in the 2011 Ohio Redistricting Competition and served on the 2021 Citizens Redistricting Commission.\u00a0 Last year, Sam promoted Citizens Not Politicians.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nSam had a long history of community and government involvement which included: CEO of the Columbus Urban League, Executive Director and later chair of Common Cause Ohio, and Executive Director for the Ohio Commission on African-American Males. He also served as the Chief of Single Family Loan Management at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nSam loved a good debate and ruffling feathers. For many he will be best remembered for his regular appearances on TV such as WOSU\u2019s <\/span>Columbus on the Record.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\r\n\r\nIf you would like to make a donation in Sam's honor, celebrating his decades of defending democracy in Ohio, please click here<\/a>.\r\n\r\nWe\u2019re heartbroken by this loss, but we will honor Sam\u2019s legacy through our continued commitment to achieving the democracy we all deserve.<\/span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_44430\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"910\"]\"\" Sam Gresham (center) with the Common Cause Ohio Team at the Ohio Statehouse on July 1, 2024[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_44434\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"964\"]\"\" Redistricting reform advocates in the gallery of the Ohio House awaiting final vote on HJR 1. L-R (organizational affiliations as they were in 2014) front row: Common Cause Ohio\u2019s Catherine Turcer and Sam Gresham, Prof. Dick Gunther, Ohio Voice\u2019s Deidra Reese and Camille Wimbish, L-R second row: ProgressOhio\u2019s Sandy Theis, ABLE\u2019s Ellis Jacobs and Common Cause Ohio\u2019s Marian Harris. Photo taken by Ann Henkener of the League of Women Voters of Ohio[\/caption]\r\n\r\n "}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_work","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_work":{"heading":"Work","manually_curate":false,"work":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_related_articles","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_related_articles":{"heading":"Updates","button_text":"See all Related Articles","manually_curate":false,"articles":null}}]},"yoast_head":"\nCommon Cause Ohio Mourns the Loss of Board Chair Sam Gresham - Common Cause Ohio<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/common-cause-ohio-mourns-the-loss-of-board-chair-sam-gresham\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Common Cause Ohio Mourns the Loss of Board Chair Sam Gresham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/common-cause-ohio-mourns-the-loss-of-board-chair-sam-gresham\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Ohio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-22T13:46:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/OH.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/common-cause-ohio-mourns-the-loss-of-board-chair-sam-gresham\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/common-cause-ohio-mourns-the-loss-of-board-chair-sam-gresham\/\",\"name\":\"Common Cause Ohio Mourns the Loss of Board Chair Sam Gresham - 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