REMEMBER BEN SUNDAY...FEED THE HOMELESS & ASYLUM SEEKERS

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Various Sources

The late Ben Neece had been chairman of the Ozanam Center homeless shelter since 2009, and worked to aid and feed downtown’s homeless as well, and Gilbert Velasquez said. Neece, whose law practice, Neece Legal Solutions, included sons Adam and Joshua, was heavily involved in the community in ways too numerous to list. 

Neece’s other son, Brandan, is a physicist and teaches AP calculus and AP statistics for IDEA Public Schools. He is also survived by his other son, Matthew, and his brother, Robert.

Neece served on the boards of several organizations, including the Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts, Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, the Brownsville Historical Association (2013-2021), and the Brownsville Latin Jazz Festival. 

He supported the Good Neighbor Settlement House, Noche Gitana Flamenco at the George Ramirez Performing Arts Center (named for BSPA founder and Neece’s longtime friend, who died in 2019), Revival of Cultural Arts and the South Texas Afghanistan Iraq Veterans Association, to name just a few.

He was also a pioneer of downtown revitalization, opening the Crescent Moon and later, with Ramirez, the Half Moon Saloon in the 1880 Hernandez Hide Yard building downtown. He also ran second story cafe, the Spanish Moon, on East Washington Street for a few years, and led the effort to establish Earth Day festivities in Brownsville, Velasquez said.

Adam Neece said that although a lot of people knew his father as a former judge and city commissioner, far fewer knew the scope of his efforts to help people — such as his willingness to allow poor, elderly residents who’d racked up big traffic fines to pay whatever they could.

“He was aware that if you make $10,000 in one year and you rack up $1,000 in fines, that’s it, you’re done,” Adam said. “So he was always willing to work with people. He was willing, even as a judge, to look at every case individually and be very compassionate with people.”