Wes Perkins spent much of his 84 years doing what came naturally to him, bringing people together, looking out for those who needed an advocate and making sure everyone had something good to eat.

Wes was born Aug. 5, 1941, in Worcester, Mass., the son of Leslie Perkins and Dorothy Lee Perkins. His mother died when he was young, and his Aunt Sarah became an important part of raising him. Among the many things she gave him was a skill that would become one of his lifelong languages of love: she taught him how to cook.

Wes attended South High School in Worcester, where his time as a student-athlete foreshadowed much of who he would become. He was a member of the band and the drum major, president of his junior and senior class, performed in theatrical productions and was selected as best personality along with his friend Pauline. He attributed his successful high school basketball career, which earned him a college scholarship, to long evenings practicing shots on the basketball court at Beaver Brook Park.

He went on to Leicester Junior College, where he played basketball and was a member of the 1960–61 New England championship team. His accomplishments at Leicester eventually earned him induction into the Becker (Leicester) Junior College Hall of Fame.

As a young man, another enormously important influence entered his life. Arnold and Myra Fassler ran Hampshire Lodge, a distinctive summer camp for gifted teenagers in Jackson, N.H. Wes worked in the lodge kitchen, further developing his love of cooking and feeding people, which would stay with him for the rest of his life. He developed friendships at Hampshire Lodge that lasted throughout his life.

The Fasslers also helped change the trajectory of Wes’s life, encouraging him to continue his education at Southern Connecticut State University, where Arnold was chair of the special education department.

At Southern Connecticut, Wes continued to excel as an athlete. In 1962, he set the school record in the long jump with a leap of 24 feet, 2¼ inches – a record he held for 25 years. It was also there that he met and eventually married Joyce Rutkowsky. As young parents, they were frequent visitors to Hampshire Lodge, which provided a welcoming and enriching environment for a young interracial couple in the 1960s.

Wes earned his undergraduate degree from Southern Connecticut and later a master’s degree from Temple University.

He devoted much of his professional life to people whom society had too often overlooked or underserved.

An important early chapter of that work was at the New Haven Regional Center in Connecticut, where he met Superintendent Joe Colombatto. That relationship eventually brought Wes and his family to the Philadelphia area, when Colombatto recruited him to the Woodhaven Center, a Temple University-managed residential facility for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The family settled in Willingboro, N.J.

Wes later worked with the Office of the Special Master appointed by Judge Raymond Broderick during the landmark court-supervised transformation of Pennhurst State School and Hospital. The work was part of the historic shift away from institutionalization and toward community-based care for people with intellectual disabilities – an important chapter in the disability rights movement and work that reflected Wes’ commitment throughout his career.

Wes continued working with young people when he and Mary Moynihan-Perkins accepted roles at the Lakeside School in Spring Valley, a residential program serving adolescents with significant behavioral and other challenges.

He later returned to Philadelphia to lead training and development at Temple University and then served as director of human resources at Temple University Hospital.

Wes’ career eventually took him and Mary to Delaware, where he held executive leadership positions at the Stockley Center and the Delaware Psychiatric Center. Later, Wes and Mary created WESMAR Associates, through which he put decades of leadership and organizational experience to work as a consultant and certified executive coach.

Wes continued serving long after many people would have considered themselves retired. He served on the board of trustees of Delaware State University and the board of directors of Beebe Healthcare and Lewes Historical Society, was active in Rotary, and remained deeply involved with The Arc, continuing his lifelong advocacy for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He loved his time working with Tony and Carol Boyd-Heron at their Peninsula Gallery in Bethany and Lewes. His work with local executives, supporting their success, gave him personal and professional satisfaction. But a list of jobs and titles tells only part of Wes’s story.

Wes was a soccer and track dad before the phrase was in vogue. Whether driving to practices, games or meets, he enjoyed creating community with the other parents and teammates. He loved a good road trip for a game. And he was known to occasionally play a trumpet from the sidelines – even though he didn’t actually know how to play the trumpet.

Wes loved jazz. He was an old-school jazz guy: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Jimmy Smith on the Hammond organ. He loved the music, and he loved the stories. One of his favorites was going to see Miles Davis perform and watching Miles spend virtually the entire performance with his back to the audience.

Wes leaves behind his wife, Mary Moynihan-Perkins; his children, Marsi Perkins, Bret Perkins and his wife Donna, and Kent Perkins and his wife Katie; his three grandsons, Timothy, Tazio and Tiernan; his brother, Craig Perkins; and his niece, Tamara Perkins, along with family, friends, colleagues, mentees and the many people whose lives crossed his during more than eight decades.

In remembrance of Wes, consider a memorial gift to the Temple University Jazz Studies Fund or Beebe Medical Foundation.

If heaven has a kitchen, a good sound system, and Miles, Coltrane and Jimmy Smith somewhere nearby, we suspect Wes is already making himself at home.

A Celebration of Life will be held in October; contact a family member for information.

Visit Wes's Life memorial at www.parsellfuneralhomes.com.