YMCA Director David Steele dies

David Steele, executive director of the YMCA of Metro Columbus, died Thursday morning. He was 61 years old.

“It is a great loss to the YMCA and to the community,” said Mario Davis, chairman of the YMCA board.

Davis said Steele had been in the position since 1992.

“He was a great man, a great leader,” he said. “He loved this community.”

Agreeing with that sentiment was Scott Ferguson, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley.

“David was passionate about what he did,” Ferguson said. “We had a longtime friendship and partnership. It is a great loss.”

Steele came to Columbus after working at the Northside YMCA in Atlanta and the YMCA in Sarasota, Fla., before that.

Steele was the son of a Baptist minister. He said in an interview a few years ago that before coming to Columbus he had not lived anywhere for more than seven years.

He said the support of the community was the main reason he stayed here.

“It has all been terribly rewarding,” he said at the time. “Our mission is to serve the entire community, and that is what you get at the YMCA. It could be a corporate executive coming through the door. It could be a sanitation worker. They’re all the same at the YMCA.”

During his time here, Steele oversaw a massive renovation of the D.A. Turner YMCA on Warm Springs Road and the building of the John P. Thayer YMCA downtown.

During the construction of Thayer facility, Steele said, “I feel blessed to be part of this era of the YMCA in Columbus.”

This story was originally published October 13, 2016 at 11:32 AM with the headline "YMCA Director David Steele dies."