Aquil Basheer, who worked to reduce gang violence in Los Angeles and elsewhere and founded The Build Program, was being mourned Sunday by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and others after his death last week.
“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Aquil Basheer, an extraordinary mentor, educator, and tireless advocate for community violence intervention,” Bass said in a statement posted on X Sunday morning.
“Dr. Basheer was more than a colleague and a friend — he was a visionary leader who dedicated his life to building the infrastructure our communities need to protect and support those doing critical violence prevention work. His commitment to de-escalation training and his partnership with organizations like GRYD created pathways for countless practitioners to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to save lives.
“As the founder of BUILD-PCITI, Dr. Basheer equipped an entire generation of violence intervention professionals with the tools, knowledge, and courage to advance this essential work,” Bass continued. “His impact extends far beyond any single program or partnership; it lives on in every community member he trained, every life touched by those he mentored, and every practitioner standing on the foundation of his leadership.”
Basheer, the son of LA’s first Black firefighter, founded The Build Program at The Professional Community Intervention Training Institute in 1992. The group, whose headquarters is at 1409 W. Vernon Ave., “provides targeted violence prevention/gang intervention, high-risk Incident response, comprehensive public safety training, community mobilization, and cooperative activism to numerous cities across the United States and across the globe,” according to its website.
BUILD stands for Brotherhood Unified for Independent Leadership Through Discipline.
“It deeply saddens us to deliver this news,” The Build Program said Friday in announcing Basheer’s death on Facebook. “Dr. Aquil Basheer was more than a pioneer — he was a pillar to our movement. A former Black Panther, an international commander who structured human engagement for justice and a visionary who led thousands of frontline practitioners across the world. Above all, he was a devoted family man whose strength, compassion, and integrity guided everything he did.”
Basheer has lectured and conducted anti-violence training around the world, including for the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
In 2014, he wrote the book, “Peace in the Hood: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence.”
In 2015, Basheer received an honorary doctorate of humanities from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in a ceremony at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
No cause of death was given.
A public memorial service will be announced at a later date, according to Build officials.