Harry Kressler, nonprofit agency's director, dies at 62

Kressler became the nonprofit organization’s executive director when the agency started, with one project focusing on substance abuse prevention, in 1992. Under his leadership, it grew to more than 80 projects and a budget of $10.7 million. Pima Prevention Partnership now serves more than 12,000 adolescents and their families in Tucson and Phoenix.

Today the programs include early intervention and substance abuse treatment, strengthening families of foster children and juvenile offenders, support for children of prisoners and their caregivers, Pima County Teen Court, Pima Partnership schools, and mentoring and workforce development for teens.

Sheila Kressler-Crowley, the oldest of Kressler’s three children, said her father moved to Tucson when he was 13 from Heidelberg, Germany, and started school without speaking any English. His own childhood was traumatic, and marked with abuse, neglect and abandonment, she said.

“That’s why he was so passionate to serve underserved youth, to give them a chance,” she said. “It was always about other people, not about him.”

Claire E. Scheuren, the organization’s deputy director, said Kressler provided outstanding leadership by being a resource to his staff. She said he always offered his employees “a tremendous amount of support.”

“Harry knew how to bring out the best in people,” she said. “If you worked for Harry, you worked hard and he worked hard right along with you.”

Another part of Kressler’s legacy is that he viewed the youth he helped not as victims or clients, but as unique individuals who could learn to facilitate their own growth and, subsequently, help others.

Rose Tederous was one of the agency’s first five staff members, and she remembers Kressler as someone who motivated her to work hard and believe in her abilities.

“He was so good at recognizing the skills you had and building you up,” said Tederous, who now works as the family resources and wellness coordinator with Amphitheater High School. “He saw something in me that I didn’t know I had.”

Tederous and Scheuren said Kressler had a number of maxims that those who knew him heard frequently. Among his favorites: “Be a student of your own behavior,” “Nothing is promised,” and “Live in gratitude.”

Kressler-Crowley said her father survived nearly two years after his initial diagnosis, and stayed active throughout much of the illness.

“During the last six months, it went from bad to worse, but even then he was so dedicated to the partnership,” she said. “He just loved those kids.”

She said her father was also extremely dedicated to his children and his wife, and relished the chance to create the family he never had while growing up.

“Harry Kressler was very, very well-loved, not just by his family, but also by his colleagues,” Scheuren said. “He did a lot of good for many thousands, but he was not ever interested in having the light shining on him. I’m glad we have the occasion to do so now because he so well deserves it.”

In addition to Kressler-Crowley, Kressler is survived by his wife of 37 years, Suzi Kressler, his other two children, Kelly Button, 35, and Harrison Kressler, 29, and three grandchildren.