Dave Smith, the long-time leader of Penn-South -- the union sponsored housing development in the Chelsea section of Manhattan -- died at 90 a few days ago. A New York Times obit is here . He'd been sick for a long time. An obit and report from an informal memorial gathering appeared in the Villager, here

Mr. Smith, whom I knew, but not well, over many years, emerged as the key figure in the struggle to keep the Penn-South as a non-profit cooperative. As union-built coop housing (Seward Park, Hillman Houses) became market-rate housing for wealthy New Yorkers, Penn-South stood for the principle that affordable housing should be maintained. The union members and other tenants of the development gave up, under Dave Smith's leadership, the possibility of personal profit so as to allow other low and moderate income people to move in. His active leadership continued into old age. He opposed Mr. Bloomberg's West Side Stadium . As The Villager reported: "Dave Smith, 85, former president of the Penn South Co-op in Chelsea, epitomized local sentiment. “If they would use this money for education and affordable housing instead of a stadium it would go a long way to keeping the city strong and preserving the neighborhood,” Smith said."

He and his wife Esther (who died in 2001) were leaders of the left-wing of the Democratic Party in Chelsea and were long-time opponents of the War in Vietnam. As long as health allowed he attended regularly the reunions of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. His daughters, Karen Smith, a NYS Supreme Court Judge, and Abby Smith, a singer, survive him. Those whose lives he touched will remember him and treasure the times he was with us. Dave's memorial meeting is set for May 9. For more info see the death notice, here