Announcements
Jennifer Emerling / There Is More Work To Be Done
Jennifer Emerling / There Is More Work To Be Done
Art Collings Passed Away March 23, 2010
Arthur M. (Art) Collings, Jr. died on March 23, 2010.
Update March 29, 2010 – HAC has received a number of inquiries about Art’s family’s wishes for memorial contributions. The Collings family has not yet made a suggestion; HAC will post here when they do. Others have suggested that Art be remembered at HAC’s National Rural Housing Conference in December 2010. HAC is planning to do so, and will provide more information when it is available.
Art began working in rural housing in 1955. He started in New Jersey as an assistant county supervisor at the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), quickly moving up to county supervisor and then to a variety of other positions in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Beginning in 1972, the year in which the newly created Housing Assistance Council began hiring staff, Art’s jobs at FmHA alternated with periods at HAC. He served as special assistant to FmHA Administrator Gordon Cavanaugh from 1977 to 1980. From 1986 until his reluctant retirement at the end of 2004, Art served as HAC’s senior housing specialist.
Gordon Cavanaugh, HAC’s first executive director, once explained that he hired Art because he was told Art was the most liberal staffer at FmHA. “He taught the rest of us everything we knew,” said Cavanaugh. “Arthur was just extraordinarily dedicated, well informed, and a good-humored gentleman.”
Art wrote dozens of publications about USDA’s rural housing programs, from manuals on how to use them to analyses of how they could be improved. He authored a number of amendments to these programs, advised people all over the country on their use, and conducted countless training sessions.
Art’s dedication to improving housing conditions for low-income rural Americans was unmatched. His feistiness and humor, added to his extensive knowledge of USDA’s rural housing programs, made him unique, sometimes frustrating to work with, and well-loved around the country.
Art is survived by his wife of 52 years, Jean Collings and his sons Arthur M. Collings, III of Red Hook, NY and David H. (Dawn) Collings of Mercursburg, PA. He is also survived by four grandchildren: Sean, Samuel, Margaret and Allison and a brother, Lawrence Collings of Lady Lake, FL.
HAC has created a blog at https://artcollingsmemorial.blogspot.com/where stories and comments about Art can be shared.
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Posted: March 24, 2010
Updated: March 29, 2010
If you have problems accessing any of the material on this page, contact Leslie Strauss at HAC, leslie@ruralhome.org, 202-842-8600.