We at the Lindy Institute and Nowak Lab mourn the loss of Distinguished Visiting Fellow Jeremy Nowak. Jeremy's life's work was the embodiment of our mission to forge innovative strategies to equitably advance cities. He challenged conventional urbanism through design-thinking principles and rigorous, data-informed problem solving, and infused innovation into all of our initiatives. He was at the intellectual and practice-based heart of our work of Lindy, and he will be missed for his incredible vigor, humor and humanity, and especially for his fearless approach to urban challenges. We are fortunate to have benefited from his wisdom.

Drexel honored Jeremy's legacy by creating the Nowak Metro Finance Lab, an initiative he was working to launch to explore ways of financing what he called the inclusive city — in other words, a metropolitan area that works for all its residents. The lab’s founding director is Bruce Katz, Jeremy’s friend, co-author of their recent book, The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism, and a renowned urban expert who brings more than 30 years’ experience and expertise in urban governance and finance with the Brookings Institution, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Read President Fry's announcement

• Drexel Sets Sights on ‘Inclusive City,’ Honoring Inspiration of Jeremy Nowak

Read other tributes to his legacy

• He Will Not Rest
• Jeremy Nowak, 66, prominent Philadelphia investor, advocate, commentator
• A legendary local leader is gone
• Remembrances from the Lindy Institute Urban Innovation Fellows in the year following his passing