David T. Rammler, social justice lawyer and chair of the Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission, has died at 77
He was adept and tenacious at representing people and causes he supported, and he focused on housing, his wife said, because “he believed that housing was a primary right for people.”
David T. Rammler, 77, of Philadelphia, longtime lawyer, chair of the Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission, legal consultant for Fair Share Housing Center, social justice activist, mentor, and volunteer, died Sunday, Sept. 1, of injuries he sustained in a car accident in Iron County, Mich.
Mr. Rammler was an expert on federal housing laws and tenant/landlord rights. He was adept and tenacious at representing people and causes he supported, and he focused on housing, said his wife, Suzanne Young, because “he believed that housing was a primary right for people.”
He was appointed to the Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission by former Mayor Michael Nutter in 2015, and he monitored property conditions, educated tenants and landlords on rights and responsibilities, and advised organizations that provided resources and assistance. City Councilmember Rue Landau, then executive director of the FHC, called his skill set and experience level “fantastic” in 2015 and said his “understanding the human element and applying the law is especially important work because so many lives are directly impacted by what happens here.”
He was hired by Cherry Hill-based Fair Share Housing Center as a legal consultant in 2012 and helped local communities of color win the largest federal Fair Housing Act disaster settlement in American history after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. He fought for government policies that championed integration, equal opportunity, environmental responsibility, and expansive public housing policy.
“A core value of Fair Share Housing Center’s work is integration because we see integration as the only means to bring about justice and equity for all,” he said in a 2023 post on fairsharehousing.org. Adam M. Gordon, executive director of Fair Share Housing Center, said Mr. Rammler “had a transformational impact on both New Jersey’s recovery from Superstorm Sandy and federal policy on disaster recovery and climate change.”
He split time in Philadelphia and Washington from 2007 to 2011 as a staff attorney and director of government relations for the National Housing Law Project. The group supports tenants rights and housing opportunities for underserved communities, and he represented its views to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, congressional subcommittees, and other officials.
From 1997 to 2007, he worked for several law firms in Philadelphia and was a supervising attorney for what became South Jersey Legal Services Inc. in Camden. He worked for the Defender Association of Philadelphia in the 1980s and the Hawaii Disability Rights Center in Honolulu in the 1990s.
In the 1970s, he cofounded the nonprofit Neighborhood Resources West Inc. in Philadelphia and was a volunteer lawyer for Community Legal Services Inc. He ran unsuccessfully as a Consumer Party candidate for Municipal court judge in 1979.
He spoke at housing conferences and seminars, and his articles about affordable housing and disaster recovery were published in the Poverty & Race Journal, Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, and elsewhere. He criticized state budget cuts to Community Legal Services in a 1979 letter to The Inquirer’s editor, asking “whether hard economic times can successfully be used as an excuse to deprive Americans of their rights to the knowledge and protection of the law.”
He was a board member of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, and he represented, among many other clients, the Latino Action Network, NAACP, Act Up, Tenants Action Group, and International Committee Against Racism. His advocacy and successes were recognized by the Fair Housing Commission and Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission, and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker praised his “support and dedication” to the city in a tribute.
David Ted Rammler was born Dec. 27, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio. His father was a minister, and Mr. Rammler embraced his father’s support of social justice and compassion.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Butler University in Indiana in 1969 and a law degree in 1972 at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Ohio. He protested for peace and justice many times over the years and served as a legal observer for hundreds of other protesters.
He met Suzanne Young at a lawyers event in 1979, and they married a few years later. They had sons Alec and Bryce, and lived in Germantown before moving to Center City.
Mr. Rammler liked to travel, ski, sail, kayak, dance, and ride his motorcycle to work. He especially enjoyed fishing with his family and splitting firewood at their vacation cabin in Michigan.
He volunteered on the Gazela tall ship on the Delaware River and went to archaeology lectures at the Penn Museum. He made special gifts for his wife, and she said: “David was a doer in all facets of life. He was thoughtful, kind, and smart. He was just wonderful.”
In addition to his wife and sons, Mr. Rammler is survived by a sister and other relatives.
A celebration of his life is to be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 27, at the Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103.
Donations in his name may be made to Fair Share Housing Center, 510 Park Blvd., Cherry Hill, N.J. 08002; and the Philadelphia chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Box 1266, New York, N.Y. 10009.