Obituary: Gene Estess, Broker Who Left Wall Street to Help Homeless

Gene Estess, who gave up a Wall Street job to lead a charity now nationally recognized for its work with the homeless, died of lung cancer April 9 at age 78, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Mr. Estess left his job with a brokerage in 1987 to become executive director of the Jericho Project, a New York charity that provides housing and job help to people with mental disorders and substance-abuse problems. He served 18 years in the post and is credited with building Jericho from a community soup kitchen into a national model for supportive housing services.

In interviews over the years, Mr. Estess recounted how his encounters with a homeless woman at Grand Central Station during his daily commute from suburban Westchester County changed his life direction. His efforts to get help for her introduced him to Jericho, whose board he joined in 1984. He retired as executive director in 2005.