Robert Woodson, a conservative civil rights activist and the founder and president of the Woodson Center, died Tuesday. He was 89 years old.
Woodson dedicated his career to community solutions and poverty alleviation, advocating for the people closest to problems to have the power to address them.
He also regularly spoke out against political violence.
“The solution to endless cycles of retaliation can only be found in radical gestures of grace and forgiveness,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Deseret News last year.
The Woodson Center announced its founder’s death in a press release on Wednesday.
“Bob built a body of work that reframed how America thinks about poverty, race, and community,” the statement reads. “He stood steadfast for the nation’s founding values and virtues, including faith, hard work, personal responsibility, the foundational importance of healthy families and communities, and the ability of everyone to shun a victimhood mentality and become agents of their own uplift.”
Several U.S. civic and political leaders, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Ted Cruz, have praised Woodson’s legacy and offered their condolences to his family.
Woodson “was an inspiring civil rights leader and an unmatched champion of equality of opportunity for underserved communities across America,” Pence wrote. “Bob lived out his faith with conviction and was a passionate champion of personal responsibility and the American dream.”
‘A courageous leader’
Woodson visited Utah a number of times to meet with lawmakers, faith leaders, schools and communities. Utah Rep. Burgess Owens introduced Woodson at the Utah Capitol in 2023 and later thanked him for “all he does to inspire and empower thousands of Black men and women to become agents of their own uplift.”
In a statement posted to X on Friday, Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams said the state was blessed by Woodson’s “wisdom and leadership.”
Adams called Woodson a “courageous leader whose work challenged people to rise above division and focus on the values that make our nation unique and special.”
Adams also referenced Woodson’s work to overcome political violence and unrest.
“He brought people together for honest conversations during a time when our country too often chooses conflict over understanding,” Adams wrote.
Utah state Rep. Cheryl K. Acton also shared her condolences on X.
“Mr. Woodson came to our Utah House Republican caucus a few years ago,” she wrote. “I had not heard of him before that, but his wisdom, love, and strength were palpable. An amazing human being!”
‘Radical grace’
During a time when political violence is increasingly becoming a cause for concern, Woodson offered a solution: “radical grace.”
In his op-ed for the Deseret News, Woodson referenced examples from Black American history as well as the present day, including the victims who forgave the shooter of the 2015 Charleston church shooting and the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who raised money for the family of the gunman who attacked a congregation in Michigan.
“Too many of us believe that justice is achieved only through punishment,” Woodson wrote. “But punishment alone can’t restore what’s been broken.
“Redemption begins not in the courtroom but in the human heart. Grace doesn’t cancel accountability; it transcends it. It declares that no person, no family, no community is beyond the reach of God’s redemptive power.”
