Remembering the life and legacy of Everett Marshburn

August 14, 2026

I’ve struggled to find the words for this one.

Diverse & Resilient lost a longtime friend, champion, former Board Chair, and someone who believed deeply in this organization with the passing of Everett Marshburn earlier this week.

Everett’s relationship with D&R goes back much further than his time on our Board. Long before he officially joined us, he was finding ways to lift up our work, make connections, and use his platform to bring attention to issues impacting LGBTQ+ people, Black communities, and people living with HIV.

Back in 2014, D&R honored Everett with the Bayard Rustin Leadership Award during our Reviving the Dream celebration. We recognized him for his work highlighting issues including LGBTQ+ acceptance, HIV awareness, employment, and incarceration. At the time, D&R described Everett as someone who “leads with a deep sense of justice and a generosity of spirit.”

That was Everett.

He joined our Board in 2016 and stayed with us until his term ended in 2024, serving as Board Chair from 2022 to 2024. But Everett was never just a Board member or Board Chair. He loved this organization. He cared about where we were going, who we were serving, and whether we were living up to what our communities needed from us.

And I got to experience that love for D&R personally.

Everett was Board Chair when I was still finding my footing as a new President & CEO. He became a mentor to me during a time when I really needed one. He believed in me, encouraged me, challenged me, and helped me navigate what it meant to lead an organization that meant so much to both of us. There are things he taught me during those years that I know I will carry with me for the rest of my career.

Everett spent his own career making sure our communities and our stories were seen. Through his decades in public broadcasting and his work with Milwaukee PBS and Black Nouveau, he told stories about Black life, history, culture, struggle, joy, and everything in between. He understood that whose stories get told matters. And he brought that same understanding to D&R.

There is so much more that could be said about Everett. About the awards. The documentaries. The decades of work. The people he mentored. The connections he made. The doors he helped open.

Right now, I mostly just keep coming back to how fortunate D&R was to have him in our corner for so many years, and how fortunate I was to have him in mine.

We are going to miss you, Everett.

Thank you for loving this organization. Thank you for believing in our work and our communities. And, personally, thank you for believing in me.

You will always be part of D&R’s story.