In Loving Memory of Ismael Ahmed
- Reena Hamad
- 7 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Reena Hamad Editor-in-Chief
On January 31, 2026 it was with great sadness that the campus community lost Ismael Ahmed, a pillar to inclusivity and community in Dearborn, the state of Michigan, and across the nation. A University of Michigan-Dearborn alumnus, Ahmed was serving as the Executive Director of ACCESS, which was just one of dozens of hats he was wearing in service to others. He also helped co-launch the Arab American National Museum, the first and only museum of its kind in the United States devoted to recording the Arab American experience.
For those who knew him, Ahmed’s life was defined by a rare ability to bring people together. So much so, that even his funeral procession was described to be the only place so many different people could come together in the same place. Former UM-Dearborn Chancellor Daniel Little recalled meeting him during his very first week as chancellor, after several people told him that the university’s alumnus and ACCESS leader was exactly the person who could teach him about the unique metropolitan community he was becoming a part of. Little recalls that “the afternoon I spent at ACCESS with Ismael in July 2000 formed the basis of a friendship that continued through the end of his life.” Months later, in remembrance of his colleague and friend, Little shared the following:
"Ismael fundamentally shaped my understanding of a truly inclusive community, whether at the university or in the state of Michigan. Like so many of us in southeast Michigan, I mourn the passing of a truly transformative leader of our community.
Ismael’s amazing gift was as a community builder. He fundamentally believed in the equality of all human beings, he believed in social justice, and he also understood the many social and political forces that push groups apart. And like other great and selfless leaders, he lived his values. He understood at many levels that it was crucial for an ethnically, racially, and religiously mixed population like southeast Michigan to develop a shared basis of civic identity, and this requires developing mutual trust and understanding.
He believed that the strongest force for inclusion and mutual respect within such a population was the establishment of effective cross-group community organizations—like ACCESS, La SED, and New Detroit. And he spent much of his life working to create and strengthen such organizations. He was selfless in his work, interested in the collaborations and relationships rather than his own public reputation.
Just as an artist works with the paint and canvas to create something new and beautiful, so Ismael worked with people and groups to create new bonds of trust and empathy, and he had a special knack for it. Ismael was gentle, non-dogmatic, persistent, resourceful, and courageous, and he was quietly inspiring to all who knew him. I personally owe him more than I can acknowledge for the wisdom he shared with me over the years.
Ismael was a transformative force for our campus as well. Through his presence on campus and through his creation of the Center for Metropolitan Engagement Ismael made practical and attainable the goals of incorporating our diversity and our relationships throughout southeast Michigan into an interconnected and inclusive community. In my opinion, our campus became an admirable model for what an inclusive and diverse community could look like.
Some universities grapple with the "town-gown" problem. But UM-Dearborn avoided that dichotomy completely, with strong relationships between the campus and the communities of metropolitan Detroit. The Public Allies program was an outstanding addition to our campus, and it was the direct effect of Ismael's work with Federal agencies to bring this AmeriCorps program to the Dearborn campus.
Ismael's passion for world music, and the dynamism and energy he brought to the Concert of Colors over so many years, illustrate his intuitive understanding of an inclusive community -- many traditions, many engaging interactions, many sources of inspiration and joy, all to be found in music!"
Dr. Sally Howell, Professor of History, also recalled having the honor to work with him.
"Ish was an inspired and inspiring community builder. He saw immigrants as an enrichment to our society, not a threat. He saw our diversity as our beauty and strength. He saw history as a vehicle for sharing culture and building solidarity. He was a warrior for the working class, the Black and Brown, and all of us "planetary citizens." He made these values contagious and empowered those around him - demanded of them - that they join in the struggle to make the world a better place for us all.
Ish brought this approach to life to all of his endeavors. In the 1970s he pushed the UAW to divest from Israeli war bombs. In the 1980s and 1990s he led ACCESS as it grew into one of the region's largest and most accomplished service organizations, while also launching the Concert of Colors and hosting a world music radio program. In the early aughts he helped launch the Arab American National Museum and then moved on to head the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
And he joined the UM-Dearborn campus as an Associate Provost, Advisor to the Chancellor, and member of the campus Community Advisory Board. None of these titles shed light on the tremendous difference Ish made to the communities in which we live today - the city of Dearborn, the city of Detroit, and Southeast Michigan.
I send my love and condolences to Ish's family and friends, to the many who worked alongside him, and to all of those who revelled in the music he made possible and the myriad other legacies of his singular life."
-- Sally Howell