Dr. Gary Tobin was burried yesterday, and with his death, the Jewish community has lost an important voice for inclusiveness, fearlessness, and the idea that there must be room in the Jewish community for anyone who wants a place.
From the New York Times Obituary to which I was proud to attach my name:

TOBIN–Gary. The faculty and Board of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership extends its deepest condolences to Diane, Adam, Amy, Sarah, Aryeh, Mia, Jonah, and Josiah on the terrible loss of Dr. Gary Tobin, loving and dedicated husband, father, and grandfather. The Jewish people has lost one of its most visionary, courageous, creative, wise, passionate, and loving scholar- activist- community builders. No one in Jewish life has done more to nurture a more inclusive paradigm of Jewish peoplehood for the 21st Century. Gary was not only a leader and our teacher, he was our dear friend. We honor his memory by continuing his work, bringing every Jew, wherever they live, however hidden or disconnected and however they practice, into the one Jewish People Gary so loved. Rabbi Irwin Kula, President Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, President Larry Gellman, Chairman

For more about Gary’s life work:
While most communal professionals were bemoaning the loss of Jews to intermarriage and assimilation, Tobin assailed the community for its insularity and hostility toward converts and the gentile spouses of Jews. While Jewish organizations were complaining that wealthy Jews were directing their philanthropy to non-Jewish causes, Tobin told them to quit kvetching and give them a good reason not to.

And while many Jewish institutions were content to ignore Jews of non-European origin, Tobin actively sought them out. Through its initiative B’Chol Lashon (In Every Tongue), his institute reached out to Jews of color and helped educate the mainstream community about Jewish diversity.
While Tobin staked out liberal positions on issues of Jewish community and identity, he had no qualms about making common cause with conservative groups in defense of communal interests. In 2004 he was named to the Forward Fifty list of the country’s most influential Jews, which noted both his “maverick liberal” attitudes on conversion and racial diversity as well as his partnership with the neoconservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a post-9/11 creation intended to fight the spread of radical Islam.
It was there that Tobin produced studies on American attitudes toward Israel and anti-Israel sentiment on campus and conducted public opinion polls relating to national security and the Middle East. In 2005, Tobin co-authored “The Uncivil University,” which charged that universities had violated the public trust by permitting a climate of rampant anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment to take root.

Gary, you will be missed. May your memory be a blessing.