Oregon Public Broadcasting

Rob Ingram is being recalled as a strong advocate for Portland’s at-risk youth. The director of Portland’s Office of Youth Violence Prevention died of a heart attack Sunday.

Rob Ingram accepting the Skanner News Drum Major for Justice award, at the Skanner News Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast on MLK Day in 2010. Photo Courtesy: The Skanner.

Ingram had spent a sizeable chunk of his youth in gangs. But Ingram managed to turn things around -- using his experience to show kids another way. He was the director of Portland's Office of Youth Violence Prevention. But to Portland's African American community he was much more. He was active in several non-proft groups like the Urban League and Big Brothers and Sisters.

And he was perhaps best known for speaking his mind, which at times caused friction with those in power. Here he is in 2009 criticizing budget cuts at City Hall.

"The kids that we work with, they don't understand budget cuts, they don’t understand funding cuts. All they know is the only person who cared about me, who was in my life, is no longer in my life, and I don't know why, I don’t care why. They told me they would be there and they can’t be there anymore," he said.

In a statement posted online, Portland Mayor Sam Adams called Ingram a man of "wit and wisdom" who will be deeply missed. Ingram was 38 years old. He leaves his wife and five children.