On “Martin,” whether Tommy had a job was the acclaimed sitcom’s biggest mystery.
In metro Atlanta, actor Tommy Ford worked to empower students, from reading initiatives in DeKalb County to general information beyond.
Ford, 52, died Wednesday in an Atlanta hospital. He had lived in Fulton County the past seven years.
“All he needed to hear was ‘it’s for the kids,’ and he was there,” said Portia Kirkland of the DeKalb County School District, who enlisted Ford’s help for several initiatives.
He was invited for a two-hour taping of “The Bridge,” a show by and about DeKalb County teens airing on public-access television, to talk about the film industry. He stayed nearly twice as long, Kirkland said, talking and hanging with students afterward.
Poet and community activity Hank Stewart said Ford, with whom he became friends through various metro Atlanta volunteer efforts, used his stardom for good, using his platform to empower youth, teaching them how to take care of themselves.
Ford was supposed to teach 25 high school and college students about the business of the film industry over several months earlier this year. By the time the program ended in July, participants went through financial planning, dental hygiene and personal maintenance. The group was supposed to meet twice weekly. At one point, Stewart said, they met every day.
“He said ‘I won’t just teach them film,’ ” Stewart said. “It’ll be wraparound services. We had a field trip to get manicures and pedicures. That wasn’t anything they were used to. It showed them how to take care of themselves.”
Through The Stewart Foundation, which Hank Stewart started, Ford participated in career day events, Black History Month programs, Women’s History Month programs, among other things. They were involved in the early stages of the school district’s My Brother’s Keeper initiatives, and participated in Real Men Read, where Ford talked to students and read to them, often reading his own children’s books.
“He never told me no if it was for children,” Stewart said. “He wasn’t just interested in them. He was committed to them. He was never above doing what needed to be done.
“He was so much more than ‘he ain’t got no job’ Tommy.”
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