GLT » Grand Marshal: Ben Dillingham

feature

Grand Marshal: Ben Dillingham

Published Thursday, 28-Jul-2005 in issue 918

A long-time community leader and philanthropist, Ben Dillingham can be described as a quiet, behind-the-scenes activist, who said he is “flabbergasted” that Pride honored him as a grand marshal this year.

A decorated combat veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former chief financial officer for the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board, Dillingham also served as chief of staff to former San Diego mayor Maureen O’Connor.

“She basically opened up the mayor’s office to the wide diversity of San Diego,” Dillingham said. “Not just the gay community, but all of the other communities: the Hispanics, the Asians, the black community and others that, prior to that, had basically been excluded by the white male business establishment that ran San Diego.”

Dillingham said Mayor O’Connor was the first mayor to walk in San Diego’s Pride parade, and got OMBAC, the old Mission Beach Athletic Club, to help refurbish The Center’s former Normal Street location. After she left office, she contributed approximately $60,000, spearheading the communitywide gift-giving that “basically brought The Center back from the brink of economic ruin,” Dillingham said, “and allowed it to go forward to be the phenomenal success under Dr. [Delores] Jacobs and the board of trustees that it is today.”

Dillingham avers, “To be more than honest, a lot of the glory that falls to me is really hers [O’Connor’s]. Without her, I wouldn’t be worth a damn.”

Since working for O’Connor, Dillingham’s advocacy has spanned nearly every GLBT organization in San Diego. An editorial board member for the Gay & Lesbian Times, Dillingham currently chairs the AIDS Foundation San Diego, is board treasurer of Episcopal Community Services and its San Diego Scholarship Foundation, and is a member of the advisory committee for the HIV Funding Collaborative.

In addition to these posts, he is also an appointee of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to the County Veterans Advisory Council, which assists San Diego’s military veterans.

A past board member for a host of GLBT associations, including The Center, Something Special Food Pantry and the L.I.F.E Foundation, Dillingham was presented the Presidential Award by the Imperial Court de San Diego last year.