Obituary: Eleanor M. Josaitis, 79, Detroit Anti-Poverty Crusader

Eleanor M. Josaitis, who moved to Detroit after the city’s devastating 1967 riots and established a nationally lauded organization fighting poverty, hunger, and racism, died Tuesday at age 79, says The New York Times. She had peritoneal cancer and was being cared for at a Michigan hospice.

Ms. Josaitis was a housewife in suburban Taylor, Mich., when rioting broke out in Detroit. She moved to the city with her husband and five children and launched Focus: Hope with her priest, the late Rev. William T. Cunningham.

Focus: Hope quickly gained national attention with a study demonstrating the high price and low quality of goods sold in urban grocery and drug stories compared with those in the suburbs. The charity now employs 285 people and provides food and job-training programs for tens of thousands of mostly low-income and minority Detroit-area residents.

From the archive: Read a Chronicle of Philanthropy profile of Ms. Josaitis.