Choose Healthy Life Celebrates the Life of Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts

Choose Healthy Life Founder Debra FraserHowze, Co-Chair Rev. Al Sharpton, and members of the National Black Clergy Health Leadership Council join the community in celebrating the life of Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, who transitioned to the Lord this past October. Rev. Butts served as a founding co-chair of Choose Healthy Life’s National Black Clergy Health Leadership Council with Rev. Al Sharpton.

“My pastor and friend for more than 40 years, he had a profound impact on all those he touched,” said Debra Fraser-Howze. “Rev. Butts raised money for the Black church to address teenage pregnancy and worked with me and the ministers to change the face of AIDS—just by the magic of getting tested from the pulpit and encouraging others to do so. Most recently, he did the same for COVID-19, getting tested publicly. He moved mountains with a single touch, grace, and dignity. The community is safer because he lived. Firmly rooted with God, his faith never wavered. We pray for his wife Patricia and his entire family.”

“Rev. Butts was a major pillar in the Harlem community and is irreplaceable,” said Rev. Sharpton. “Over the last three years, he and I worked closely as co-chairs of Choose Healthy Life’s national campaign to help the Black community fight COVID. We spoke often about this important work in our community to address health disparities through the Black church. He will be tremendously missed.”

A strong advocate for the health of the community, Rev. Butts served on the United States Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and chaired the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS (NBLCA) as a founding member of the Board of Trustees. In November 2020, Choose Healthy Life established the National Black Clergy Health Leadership Council to help guide the non-profit organization. His leadership contributed to a highly successful effort to administer nearly 100,000 COVID-19 tests and vaccines through 120 Black churches across 13 states.

Rev. Butts’ commitment to enhancing the kingdom of God on earth, evidenced by his loyal dedication to the church and community development initiatives including homelessness, senior citizen and youth empowerment, cultural awareness, and ecumenical outreach proved to be unbounded. Choose Healthy Life offers its sincere condolences to the family, congregation, and to all those who knew Rev. Calvin O. Butts III.

Rev. Jacques DeGraff

New York, N.Y.

CHL New York Leader

Rev. Que English

New York, NY

Bronx Christian Fellowship Church

Rev. Darrell Griffin

Chicago, Ill.

Oakdale Covenant Church

Rev. David Jefferson

Newark, N.J. Metropolitan Baptist Church

Rev. Nelson Rivers North Charleston, S.C. Charity Missionary Baptist Church

Rev. Horace Sheffield

Detroit, Mich.

New Destiny Christian Fellowship

Rev. Mitchell Stevens

New Orleans, La. Pilgrim Baptist Church

Rev. Frank D. Tucker

Washington, D.C. First Baptist Church

Rev. Raphael Warnock

Atlanta, Ga. Ebenezer Baptist Church

Rev. Matthew Watley

Silver Spring, M.D. Kingdom Fellowship AME Church

Donna Christensen, MD

U.S. House of Representatives (1997-2015)

Tom Frieden, MD, MPH President and CEO Resolve to Save Lives

Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS Assoc. Dean, Health Equity Research Yale School of Medicine

Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA, MBA

Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Medical School

Louis Sullivan, MD President Emeritus Morehouse School of Medicine

Reed Tuckson, MD, FACP Co-Founder

Black Coalition Against COVID-19

*of blessed memory

Originally appeared in The Positive Community April 2011 Issue