'A great man': Death of conservative civil rights activist Robert Woodson felt in Utah

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The death of conservative civil rights activist Robert Woodson is having ripple effects in Utah, where he had regularly visited in recent years.
• Woodson, head of the Washington, D.C.-based Woodson Center, died Tuesday at the age of 89.
• He helped promote Utah's anti-diversity, equity and inclusion measure and, through the Woodson Center, supported local groups.

OGDEN — The death of conservative civil rights activist Robert Woodson is having ripple effects in Utah, where he visited several times as part of his outreach efforts.

"I've been crying a lot," said Marcus Carr, leader of Growing Unified Development, an Ogden-based group that received support from Woodson and his Washington, D.C.-based group, the Woodson Center. "This was a great man that came to Utah — I'm talking about more than five, six times, meeting with the highest leaders of our state to talk about these changes that we have to have in our communities."

While the Woodson Center has traditionally worked with the Black community, the group has focused its efforts on all people in need, including the poor, drug addicts and ex-convicts, promoting a message of self-sufficiency. During a visit to Utah in 2025, Woodson, who died last Tuesday at the age of 89, expressed distaste with the "traditional" civil rights movement and what he sees as its focus on seeking redress for ills of the past and victimhood.

"To me, that's worse than racism. To be patronized is worse than being hated," Woodson said.

Woodson crossed paths with many in Utah, including Senate President Stuart Adams, who lamented the man's passing in a social media post Friday.

"Robert spent meaningful time in Utah meeting with lawmakers, universities, faith leaders and communities. He brought people together for honest conversations during a time when our country too often chooses conflict over understanding," Adams said in a message on X.

Jamie Renda of Hope of Utah said he aided the Utah campaign that led to the passage of HB261 in 2024, the measure that ended diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at public colleges and other public entities. Renda helped organize a speaking visit by Woodson at Weber State University in Ogden in 2023, his first stop in Utah.

"He just really helped shift the dialogue in a positive direction on what we were fighting here," said Renda, who promotes political involvement and empowerment among minorities through a conservative lens. One message from Woodson that sticks out in particular, she said, is his call for "less talk about race and more about grace."

At a more fundamental level, she said Woodson helped fund and promote a range of organizations in Utah through the Woodson Center. Hope of Utah, which helps "strengthen and uplift underserved communities" and serves as an umbrella organization to several groups in the state, is affiliated with the Woodson Center.

"He's going to forever make an impact on Utah through these groups that are part of Hope of Utah," Renda said.

Aside from financial support for Growing Unified Development, which aims to help teens steer clear of street violence and drug use, Carr, the group's leader, noted that Woodson also provided practical assistance in running a non-profit organization. Woodson, in imparting his vision, also served as a mentor.

"This kind of hurt," Carr said. "Like almost like when my father passed, it hurt that bad."

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Tim Vandenack

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Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.