South Los Angeles lost three vibrant residents over the weekend when Inola Henry, John Holoman and Howard Ransom Jr. were found dead in their respective homes of causes yet to be determined.

Henry, who was regarded as one of the Southland’s most valuable members of the California Democratic Party, was pronounced dead in her home Sunday of probable natural causes, pending the completion of the coroner’s report. She was 66.

She became active in the Democratic Party shortly after she founded the Watts Summer Festival in the aftermath of the 1965 Watts riots. She served the state and Los Angeles County Democratic parties for decades, having been re-elected last summer to the Democratic National Committee for a third term.

She chaired the CDP’s Resolutions Committee and attended many national conventions, including the one in Denver last year where she proudly voted to nominate Barack Obama as the Democratic standard bearer for president.
Henry grew up in Lanton, Okla., where she was involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and participated in sit-ins and other student civil rights protests before moving to California and joining the inner circle of the Democratic Party.

Henry displayed a lifelong commitment to education and social justice and was well known as a teacher and a mentor in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She was active in the teachers union and spent the last 20 years as an advisor and coordinator for the school district’s human relations programming for grades 4 to 12.

In March, Assemblyman Mike Davis honored Henry as his 48th District’s Woman of the Year, calling her, “an inspirational leader with a long history of
accomplishments” and “a rare combination of compassion and competence.”

She is survived by a son, Carl N. Henry, who is a Los Angeles attorney; a brother, Robert S. Henry, who also is a Los Angeles attorney, and a sister, Charlesetta Griffin of Washington D.C.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Holoman, the longtime publisher of the now defunct Los Angeles Black newspaper, the Herald-Dispatch, was found dead sitting in a chair in his home last Friday. He was 70 years old.

Funeral services for the business leader and race relations activist, will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at First AME Church.

Holoman studied business administration at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., and set his sights on becoming a licensed real estate broker shortly after his arrival in Los Angeles in 1959. He earned his license and had a long career in real estate and development, during which he worked on one of the first African-American home developments in Los Angeles County — “Centerview” in Gardena.

He subsequently became an executive with Allstate Insurance and vice president of sales and marketing at Reynolds Aluminum, which he left in the 1980s for Home Savings and Loan, where he became known as the “original urban banker” because of his instrumental role in founding the L.A. Urban Bankers network.

At that time, Holoman was among the first Black senior vice presidents of a major banking institution in the United States. He is reported to have used his position to fight for equal opportunity and access to mainstream financial services for all races, and is credited with having fostered the career growth of countless minorities in the financial services arena.

As a business leader and activist, Holoman became concerned with the manner in which the African-American experience was being reported by the mainstream press and he and his wife acquired and published the Herald-Dispatch.

In the 1980s he and his son established Holoman Food Service through which they owned and operated 17 Church’s Fried Chicken restaurants and franchises.

Holoman is survived by his wife, Lucille; daughter, Stephanie; son, Eric; siblings Barbara, Donnell and Frank, who is a former member of the California Assembly and owner of the once-thriving Boulevard Café on Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Ransom, a longtime community activist and adult education advocate who was a virtual omnipresent figure all over South L.A., was found dead in his home Sunday morning. He was 55.

Ransom had been an activist for at-risk youth and disadvantaged adults in the South L.A. community for more than 30 years through his volunteer activities with a plethora of organizations including the Brotherhood Crusade, Young Foundation, Community Build and the United Way.

An instructor with the LAUSD since 1986, Ransom was a “master teacher” at the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center in Watts, where he gained nationwide attention for his success in preparing students for GED testing. With 90 percent of his students passing the GED examination, Ransom’s program was regarded as one of the most effective and successful in the country.

In 1992, Ransom co-designed a civil service training program that focused on postal employment for the residents of Watts. More than 800 men and women — many on welfare — enrolled in the program during its first year, with 68 percent completing the class and passing the exam with scores in the top percentile.

“Howard was a consummate educator. He was a passionate educator who was very successful in teaching those who were marginalized whether they were high school students or adults,” said actor William Allen Young, a friend of Ransom’s for more than 30 years. “They found someone in Howard who embraced them,” Young added.

A native of Chicago who grew up in Oakland, Ransom was the president and founder of the New Wave Educational Center and served as principal and owner of three charter schools — one in Inglewood and two in Long Beach.

Ransom was active with the teachers union, serving as the UTLA chapter chair for the LAUSD’s Division of Adult and Career Education and as the adult education representative on the school board’s discipline and intervention committees.

At the time of his death, Ransom was a scholar in residence with the Tom and Ethel Bradley Foundation focusing on the “Intentional Civility” curriculum developed for the organization by scholar and psychologist Dr. Lewis King. “Intentional Civility” is a 21st century approach to lifting an individual’s self-esteem. The program is designed to teach and prepare individuals to become responsible citizens and to build the capacity of individuals, communities and institutions to solve their own problems.

“He was an innovator and motivator who never lost sight that the line of responsibility for raising children was that of the parents and he held parents accountable,” said Greg Franks, CEO of the Tom and Ethel Bradley Foundation. “His loss to our community and his friends is devastating.”

Ransom is survived by his wife, Linda; father, Howard Sr.; brother, Phillip Ransom; sister, Sheila Ransom; two stepchildren, a niece, a grandson and a host of other relatives.

A memorial celebration and tribute to Ransom will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at the Christian Academy, 3141 W. Manchester Blvd. in Inglewood.