In Memoriam 2025: Charlotte Community Leaders Who Have Passed On This Year

We lost many great people in Charlotte this year. Here are memorials to just a few.

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John Holmes III

(March 21, 1995-December 29, 2024)

The unexpected passing of John Holmes III, a tireless advocate for safer cycling and pedestrian infrastructure among other equitable urban planning causes, with just two days left in 2024 cast a pall over the new year.

He was survived by his wife, Nashaly Ruiz-Gonzalez, their young daughter, and Holmes’ mother and sister, who live in South Carolina where he was born.

“John was always a shining example of putting your money where your mouth is and working towards building a better city,” Ruiz-Gonzalez wrote in a public Facebook post following his death. “He moved to Charlotte with no expectations and grew to love, cherish, and really foster the city and make it his own. I know he meant a lot to so many people. I don’t have the words to express what it means to lose him.”

Holmes made headlines in January 2022 when he publicly opposed a rezoning that would allow for the opening of a drive-thru-only Chick-fil-A despite his own position as operations manager at another Chick-fil-A location. He was fired for speaking out about the car-centric plan.

He went on to co-found the Charlotte Urbanists, an advocacy organization centered on tactical urbanism including building benches at bus stops in underserved areas where no seating was available. He had most recently worked as a community engagement officer for Charlotte-based firm Civility Localized.

Christine Edwards Pitkin, founder of Civility Localized, said she will remember Holmes’ contagious smile, which reminded her that work could be fun. She called Holmes “a caring, attentive and professional leader” with “the perfect personality for community engagement.”

“His sincerity is what I will remember most about John,” she added. “He was so sincere about every interaction with community members … The amount of care that he gave to each individual resident, I will never forget.”

David ‘Ace’ Cannon

(May 24, 1968-February 4, 2025)

For a quarter-century, David Cannon, known widely as “Ace” of The Ace & TJ Show, joined listeners as a playful passenger on their commutes,

Following the tragic loss of his daughter Payton in a car wreck, Ace threw himself into charitable work through Payton’s Promise, which raised money for folks suffering through loss and devastation due to natural disasters or other issues.

“Ace had an uncanny ability to connect with people, whether they were fans of his show or simply enjoying an event in our region,” read a statement from the team at Charlotte-based event organizers Southern Entertainment. “He was the kind of person who made you feel like you’d known him forever, even if you’d just met. That personal touch, that authenticity, is something we will forever remember about him.”

Paul Ervin, aka Moses the Street Preacher

(March 2, 1969-February 13, 2025)

Born on March 2, 1969, as Paul Antonio Ervin, Moses’ journey was one of transformation. From his early years in Baltimore to his time in Charlotte, he faced hardships that shaped his profound understanding of life. Though he experienced pain and loss, he chose to respond with love, grace and an open heart.

Homelessness was once part of his path but he never let it define him. Instead, he found peace in nature, strength in solitude, and a mission in spreading joy. Standing on Milton and Sharon Amity Roads, he became a beacon of light on “his block” — smiling and waving at passersby, reminding them they were seen, valued, and loved.

He often compared waving to fishing: “Whenever I throw out a wave, I’m fishing. And when somebody bites, they’ll wave back or they’ll point back or they’ll pop a peace [sign].”

Moses’ kindness touched countless lives. Whether through a simple wave, a heartfelt conversation, or his “90-second sermons” filled with faith and hope, he had a way of making everyone feel special. His resonating laugh — deep, full, and contagious — had a way of turning strangers into friends and lifting spirits in an instant.

Though he has left this world, his spirit lives on in every smile exchanged between strangers, in the small acts of kindness we extend to one another and in the unwavering belief that light can be found even in the darkest of times.

Leandrea ‘Luvleeh’ Hill

(September 27, 1984-February 21, 2025)

Born Leandrea Juanita Hill around four decades ago, Luvleeh took on her new name at the age of 18, mixing Luv with her childhood nickname Lee and keeping the letter H as a nod to her last name. Because she continued to use her birth name on social media, we reference it here alongside her creative name.

Known as one of Charlotte’s most gifted spoken-word poets, Luvleeh was also so much more, as her friend and colleague Boris “Bluz” Rogers wrote in a heartfelt Facebook post on the day she passed.

“To know Luv was to know what a true friend was, what A LOUD friend was, fiercely loyal, cos play unmatched, a writer, a vocalist, a poet, a host, a curator, a sister, a everything and not just to our Charlotte community but to anyone who ever met her,” Rogers wrote.

Freeman Vines

(September 15, 1942-March 13, 2025)

For more than 50 years, Freeman Vines carved guitars out of all sorts of wood, including the steps of an old tobacco barn and the soundboard of a dissembled Steinway piano. But in 2015, the unsuspecting African-American luthier, sculptor and mystic bought some wood that would go on to change the rest of his life.

Vines went to purchase the wood from an old man demolishing a building down the road from Vines’ shop in his hometown of Fountain, North Carolina. “He said, ‘You might not want to take that wood. A man were hung on that tree,’” Vines recalled to Queen City Nerve in 2020.

Days later, Timothy Duffy, founder of the Music Maker Relief Foundation (MMRF) and a world-renowned photographer, visited Vines for the first time.

“[Vines] pointed out some planks of wood to me and said, ‘That comes from the hanging tree, and I am making a hanging-tree guitar,’” Duffy says. “Being in the music business and trying to promote things, that title went straight to my brain.”

In 2019, Vines opened his first solo exhibit at the Greenville Museum of Art, less than 25 miles from his birthplace in eastern North Carolina. Vines, his spiritual philosophy and his art were also the subject of a sumptuous book with the same name as the exhibition: Hanging Tree Guitars.

While his exhibit Freeman Vines: Hanging Tree Guitars, toured the country from 2020-24, Freeman stayed in Fountain, becoming a catalyst for the renewal of the town’s small farming community, encouraging Music Maker Foundation to bring musical programming to the area. The foundation opened recording and photography studios there in spring 2024, right next door to Freeman’s workshop.

“Freeman Vines was a gifted conceptual artist whose deep spiritual philosophy had a profound impact on just about everyone he came in contact with,” said Duffy upon Vines’ passing from complications of multiple myeloma in March. “What inspired me most was the escalation in his artistic output after his cancer diagnosis of multiple myeloma two years ago. He was bound and determined to continue searching for the sound with his guitar-making and to see our studios through to their completion, and he did. He leaves a remarkable legacy to his community.”

Rusty Rozzelle

(September 13, 1956-May 13, 2025)

Rusty Rozzelle, who passed away in May at the age of 68, dedicated his life to improving local streams, creeks, lakes and rivers, having worked maintaining water quality in Mecklenburg County for 45 years.

Rozzelle’s ancestors launched the Rozzelle’s Ferry in 1790 where Highway 16 now crosses over the Catawba at Mountain Island Lake. It operated there until the 1840s, when reps with the Western Plank Road Company offered Rusty’s 3x-great-grandfather a proposition: If he shut down his ferry, they would build a bridge.

But Rusty’s legacy is about so much more than his locally famous last name, as he personally dedicated more than four decades to environmental advocacy and preservation with the Land Use and Environmental Services Agency (LUESA).

“He was an outstanding team member, mentor, confidant and servant leader, who exemplified dedication and commitment to the community,” said LUESA Director Ebenezer Gujjarlapudi upon Rozzelle’s passing. “He was a consummate professional who lived out his calling to protect our natural resources and his legacy will continue because of his great work.”

On Sept. 16, the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners approved the renaming of the LUESA building in west Charlotte to the Russell S. Rozzelle Office Building.

“He was a gifted storyteller and educator who could explain things at every level to help people understand,” said Commissioner Elaine Powell, chair of the Environmental Stewardship committee. “He woke up every day to face the never-ending challenges of environmental stewardship and did everything that he could to make a positive difference. We are all beneficiaries of his work.”

Vicki Foster

(February 16, 1969-July 25, 2025)

Community members reacted in shock over the summer as they learned that retired CMPD Assistant Chief Vicki Foster, the highest ranking woman in the department to this day, had passed away unexpectedly.

Having joined the force in 1991 and worked her way up, beginning as a beat cop, Foster retired in 2020.

“She was that rare mix of badass, brilliance, comedienne, and down-to-earth goodness,” wrote longtime community leader Ray McKinnon on Facebook. “Chief Foster, thank you.”

Spencer Merriweather’s Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office also released a statement calling Foster “an innovative leader and a consummate public servant with a true heart for victims of crime and for our community’s young people.”

HNin Nie

(September 19, 1992-August 26, 2025)

A beloved and irreplaceable fixture of Charlotte’s artistic community, HNin Nie left us on Aug. 26, 2025, a little less than a month shy of her 33rd birthday. Her work and her very presence are vital to any conversation about what is, was and will be good about this maddening and tragic and miraculous world.

Born in Vietnam but living on Charlotte’s west side since infancy, HNin can be counted proudly among our homegrown geniuses. She exploded onto the arts scene here with work that defied categorization, existing at a shifting crossroads of street art, internet culture and sophisticated, psychologically rich aesthetics.

Her work is equally at home on the side of a building as it is hanging in the stark white box of a contemporary art gallery. The work is visionary; in what can only be described as a sort of folk magic, HNin blends text, painting, sculpture, installation and video to remarkable effect.

There is always a sort of “what if” in these situations when considering the future works the world is denied, especially with an artist so young. But with Nie, the loss feels more personal. She leaves behind a body of work that is rich enough for art lovers and critics to easily spend years exploring and explicating, digging around in the artifacts of Nie’s exquisite imagination. What will be missed is the unique blend of whimsy and wisdom and fun that any encounter with HNin was certain to evoke, along with a healthy dose of gross out humor — and pickles … always pickles.

Doug Lebda

(January 29, 1970-October 12, 2025)

As founder, chairman and CEO of LendingTree, Doug Lebda was known as a visionary entrepreneur in the fintech world, but his compassionate philanthropy is perhaps the part of his legacy that will shine the brightest following his tragic death in an ATV wreck on his farm in October.

Building on his long-held belief that opportunity and well-being should never depend on where you live, he helped establish the Lebda Family Foundation and, more recently, the Lebda Family Rural Healthcare Program, which expanded school-based virtual medical care to children in underserved North Carolina communities. The initiative has already helped thousands of students gain access to vital medical care and will continue doing so in his absence.