Longtime north Charlotte community leader, an ‘advocate for everyone,’ dies at 59

Darryl Gaston, a community leader, pastor and the unofficial mayor of Charlotte’s North End, died suddenly over the weekend, his family said. He was 59.

Neighbors, community members, elected officials and others remember Gaston for his generous spirit, positive attitude and dedication to the residents of the North End, an area encompassing eight neighborhoods just north of uptown. Gaston called it the “best end.”

Gaston was an advocate for ensuring that the rapid development in the area benefited longtime residents and didn’t push them out.

He was the co-founder of the North End Community Coalition and president of the Druid Hills Neighborhood Association for more than two decades.

Johnnie Wallace Jr., who grew up in Druid Hills and runs a nonprofit for youth empowerment in the neighborhood, worked with Gaston after joining the community association around 2003.

He said Gaston was sincere and unafraid to take risks to accomplish his goals for the community. “He was a person that always told the truth,” he said. “You could depend upon what he said.”

Jeff Pharr, a board member of the North End Community Coalition and president of the Graham Heights Neighborhood Association, called Gaston a fierce advocate for equity.

“He was always loving people and building people up,” he said. “And not for himself, but to make this community and this world a better place.”

Always teaching

Gaston was born in 1961, the youngest of four brothers. He lived in the house his grandparents purchased in the 1950s in Druid Hills his whole life, according to his wife, Melissa.

She said he was first introduced to community work by his mother, who worked with the Edison Street Block Association and other neighborhood groups.

Gaston graduated from Independence High, and immediately attended the Black World College of Hair Design. Gaston wanted to attend the Hair Styling Institute in Charlotte, Melissa said, but he could not because he was Black. So instead, after attending Black World College, he became the first Black instructor at the Hair Styling Institute.

“He said, ‘I am going to make sure that I am going to teach them something,’ ” she said.

Melissa and Darryl met while planning a festival in the North End for residents and police officers to socialize. She was working with a nearby neighborhood, and she offered to help him.

In that moment, the Lord had spoken to Darryl, and said that she was going to be his wife, Melissa said he would later recall. They married in 2015.

‘Team Gaston’

For Varian Shrum, “Team Gaston,” as Darryl and Melissa are affectionately called, helped make her and husband feel welcome when they moved to the area. Shrum is the community manager at Camp North End, a massive redevelopment underway at a former manufacturing site.

Shrum said she met Gaston through a city meeting before she took the job at Camp North End, and said he was a huge part of bringing the vision for the development to life.

Later, when she moved to the area, the Gastons brought a basket of food, a candle and a bottle of wine as a housewarming gift.

“I don’t even know how to imagine the North End or Charlotte without Darryl,” she said. “He really just embraced us and just made us feel like this is our home.”

An advocate for change

Charlotte city council member Larken Egleston read a tribute to Gaston at Monday evening’s council meeting, and a proclamation from the mayor in honor of his life. The city also played a video of an interview with Gaston during what Mayor Vi Lyles described as one of “many appearances” he made at public meetings.

“Change comes slow, but it comes,” Gaston said in the video. “We can’t always control the change that occurs in and around our communities. But that we can be actively engaged in that change.”

In an interview, Egleston said Gaston was dedicated to spreading the word about programs, such as the Aging in Place tax relief for seniors. And he said he always had a smile on his face.

“If you talked to Darryl, you couldn’t possibly be in anything but a good mood,” he said. “His energy and his positivity was infectious.”

One of Gaston’s slogans, friends and family recall, was telling people that they are “visible, vital and valuable.”

A passion for nature

One of Gaston’s proudest accomplishments, according to Melissa, was securing renovations for the Druid Hills park. The improvements will start this year, she said.

Gaston was also passionate about nature and a member of the Audobon Society. At the first meeting he attended, Melissa said, someone asked him how he got there. He responded, jokingly, that he drove his blue 2003 Toyota. But he knew the member was asking because he was a Black man, Melissa said.

In 2019, he sought out to change that.

He brought the Audobon Society to the park in the majority Black neighborhood for a festival, and he was planning another event for this year.

“That’s just the kind of person he was, to advocate for everybody. It didn’t matter who it was, or what level they were on socioeconomically or their education level,” Melissa said. “He treated everybody like they were a person and that they were important and they matter.”

Gaston is survived by his brother William, his wife Melissa, stepson Michael Lowe and granddaughter Ava Lowe.

The family will hold a public viewing on Thursday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Grier Funeral Service in West Charlotte. A private funeral for immediate family will be held on Friday at Sharon Memorial Park. Flowers can be sent to Sharon Memorial, and cards and donations mailed to: 1833 Stroud Park Court Charlotte, NC 28206.

A celebration of Gaston’s life will also be held on June 24, which would’ve been his 60th birthday, at Camp North End.