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Letter to the editor

Kids judged him by his present, not his past

By ANDREW MEACHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published October 18, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - To Lounell Britt, director of the James B. Sanderlin Neighborhood Family Center, Benjamin Philyor Jr. was a good man who made no bones about his encounters with the law when she hired him eight years ago as a maintenance supervisor.

To the kids at the nonprofit center, he was "Mr. Ben," a soft touch who supervised them on field trips, taught them how to swim, attended their dance shows and bought extra hot dogs for weekly barbecues.

"If you knew him, you loved him," said Britt, who nicknamed Mr. Philyor "Chief of Staff."

"You see that smile?" said co-worker Kim Ross, 47, pointing to an obituary photo. "That's how he was all the time."

Police say Mr. Philyor, 46, was killed in a drug-related shooting on Thursday morning near the Wildwood Recreation Center in St. Petersburg.

In the 1990s, Mr. Philyor was arrested for cocaine and gambling. He spent time in state custody after convictions for grand theft, cocaine possession and illegally possessing firearms.

His record since 1999 is cleaner but not spotless. He was arrested several times on charges such as shoplifting, marijuana possession and driving under the influence.

Cathy Coley said her ex-husband struggled to remain on the right path but never gave up hope.

"He just veered off for a moment and then he veered back," said Coley, 46. "We all veer."

Co-workers and visitors to Sanderlin described Mr. Philyor as polite and quick to act on a request, even if he couldn't paint his way out of a paper bag and needed three new chairs to assemble two. The evidence of his work lies throughout the center's well-kept 5-acre property and in a row of azaleas Mr. Philyor planted outside Britt's window because he knew she liked them.

Middle and high school students who attended after-school activities at Sanderlin would help Mr. Philyor cut grass, rake leaves or move furniture. So did probationers needing community service hours. If he thought their pants were too baggy, he gave them a rope.

The kids are taking Mr. Ben's death especially hard, Sanderlin staffers say.

The center was the glue that held Mr. Philyor to the community and to his true self, Coley said.

"They didn't see him as his past," she said. "They saw his future, and that's what they gave him - a proud, strong, black man. A respectable man."

Benjamin Philyor Jr.

Born: March 18, 1961.

Died: Oct. 11, 2007.

Survivors:son, Benjamin Philyor III; brothers, David Watson, Isaac Watson, Rufus Johnson; sisters, Anita Jones, Sadie Luckett, Patricia Johnson, Delores Joyner; mother, Betty Johnson; father, Benjamin Philyor Sr.; numerous nephews and cousins.

Services: 11 a.m. Friday, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, 3300 31st St. S, St. Petersburg.

[Last modified October 17, 2007, 22:36:30]