Kevin McKeown, Ken Genser 2010
Our loss, both personally and to the community, is incomprehensible. Ken served on the Council for over a third of the 64 years Santa Monica has had a City Council. If you sleep safe in a rent-controlled apartment, or your family enjoys the security of affordable housing, or you earn the dignity of a living wage, Ken touched your life directly. He shared with us all a brilliant intellect, a bulldog's tenacity, a compassionate spirit and the heart of a mensch. At just over five feet tall, Ken was a giant.
Ken dazzled us all with his dogged ability to think through solutions that would make life better in Santa Monica. He had the vision to make great things happen, and the attention to detail to make them happen great. Time and again, faced with the most complex land use decisions, Ken could thread the needle-when others couldn't even find a needle in the haystack of municipal zoning codes. Ken knew where everything was. But there was much more to Ken than the dazzle. He pursued our City's well-being with superhuman endurance even though, as I came to learn, he sometimes needed an arm to lean on navigating the steps leaving City Hall. Ken lived with multiple infirmities, but endured discomfort, indignities, and pain with a cheerfully stoic "let's get it done" attitude. Few knew how hard life could be for Ken; the world will remember him for his endless compassion and mischievous twinkle.
Ken was a dutiful, loyal son who took great pleasure in showing up for his mother even after she didn't always remember quite who he was. He maintained deep lifelong friendships that went back to his college days at Berkeley, and he earned our respect and love not just for his work but for his humanity.