Ward 28 Alder Tom Ficklin, at City Hall in August. Beaver Hills Alder Tom Ficklin, a leading New Haven figure in media and politics and a community omnipresence for decades, died suddenly Wednesday night at the age of 75.His wife Julia Ficklin found him sitting unresponsively in his chair about to go onto his computer in his upstairs office. She contacted 911. Emergency crews declared him dead at the scene.“He was at his computer about to sign in. When I went up, he had already died,” Julia said.Ficklin continued preparing audio shows (as a host on WNHHFM), representing his Ward 28 Beaver Hills constituents, and posting links as often as three times an hour for his 2,162 Facebook followers the day before he died.“He’s been building bridges for communities in New Haven and beyond all his life,” his wife reflected. ​“So many people loved him.”“Tom Ficklin is a New Haven icon,” said retired police Sgt. and former Alder Shafiq Abdussabur. ​“I first met him back in the early days of 1990 when he was working with the Inner City newspaper. I went on to work with him on collaborative projects when he was with Empowerment New Haven. He will be remembered by the many young men and women he has continued to mentor and his efforts will have a positive impact on the future of this city for decades.” Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers called Ficklin ​“a respected member of our board” and sent ​“our sincerest condolences and prayers” to his family.Ficklin was born in Pittsburgh. He attended Connecticut’s Choate School, where he graduated in 1967, then earned his political science degree from Bucknell University in 1971 and master’s from Yale Divinity School in 1975.He served as editor at the Inner-City News, then formed the Ficklin Media Group digital marketing and communications firm. He was omnipresent at public events.In 2015 Ficklin was an inaugural host at WNHHFM, where he continued highlighting community issues with a wide range of guests on the twice-weekly​“Tom Ficklin Show” until his death. In fact he prerecorded some shows that will air in coming weeks.He was elected alder in a special election in 2022, then reelected in 2023. He loved serving the city and taking part in legislative deliberations. He had an interest in, among other issues, spirituality and public health; he organized a public workshop to start the process of considering future legislation to ban menthol cigarettes. He most recently authored a city resolution to apologize for New Haven’s role in blocking the creation of a Black college in 1831. Ficklin had a probing intellect and was constantly exploring and sharing new ideas, including a late-in-life interest in the therapeutic uses of psychedelics.“Alder Ficklin was a champion for the Beaver Hills community and involved in New Haven’s civic life in so many ways,” Mayor Justin Elicker said in a statement. ​“He was passionate about serving his neighborhood and the city at large and improving the lives of our residents. At the same time, he was also an incredibly kind and warm individual in all his interactions with others, which we could use a lot more in our politics and society today. He will be missed and the City of New Haven extends our deepest condolences to the entire Ficklin family.”Details about memorial arrangements will be forthcoming.Per City Charter, a special election for Ward 28 alder must now take place within 45 days. Whoever wins that election will serve out the rest of Ficklin’s two-year term, which runs through the end of 2025.See below for two recent episodes of Tom Ficklin’s WNHH radio show, and below that for a recent video essay by Ficklin about public safety in Beaver Hills.