Dirksen, a Norwood native and graduate of Miami University and Michigan State, died on Wednesday morning at Mercy Health-Fairfield Hospital after a lengthy illness. He was 76.
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“Howard was a very good man. He was a very moral person and I’d think all the decisions he made were in the best interest of the community,” said Fairfield Mayor Steve Miller. “He definitely put the community before he put himself.”
Dirksen and his wife, Judy, were married 50 years this past August.
“He was my best friend,” said Judy Dirksen. “He and I worked as a team, and I miss my team partner tremendously, and I always will.”
Judy Dirksen said her husband was “just unstoppable” when it came to bettering the city.
Dirksen served 14 years on City Council, first as an at-large City Council member from 1987 to 1989 and then as a First Ward Council member from 1991 to 1999. He returned to City Council in 2002, serving until 2005. He also had an unsuccessful bid in the 2005 race for Fairfield mayor.
Dirksen was an educator for 33 years, including as a science teacher at Fairfield High School and educator overseas with the Department of Defense Overseas Schools.
Dirksen met his wife while working for Fairfield Schools, and they married in 1969. Shortly after, they left so Dirksen could teach overseas and they traveled to Newfoundland, Canada and Japan.
The couple returned to Fairfield in 1978 to continue his teaching career locally, retiring from education in 1999. But in 1978, that’s when Dirksen also became active in the Fairfield community. He started the networking group Community Connections, and the couple founded the Fairfield Food Pantry and he led the formation of the Fairfield Community Foundation.
He also contributed to the Fairfield Historical Society, worked to install Little Free Library boxes around Fairfield, and was a champion of historic preservation efforts, including the city’s Elisha Morgan Mansion. He was also a long-time Fairfield Rotarian.
“If we had 50 people like Howard, we’d be the best city in the country,” said Councilman Bill Woeste, who is a Fairfield Food Pantry board member.
He called Dirksen “a community big brother,” looking out for its best interest.
Colleague and friend Mark Scharringhausen served with Dirksen on Fairfield City Council, calling him “a good, decent man and very principled.”
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“Every vote he cast was based on those principles and is what people were looking for when voting for a member to City Council,” he said. “He was a guy who had a very meaningful impact, and at the end of the day that could be the best epitaph we could ask for.”
Dirksen is survived by his wife, two children, Alex (Reagen) Dirksen and Ann (Joshua) Parsell, five grandchildren, Madox, Elijah, Mimi, Piper, and Olive, and two brothers, James (Jane) Dirksen and Ralph (Diane) Dirksen.
A visitation is set for 5 to 7 p.m. today at Evangelical Community Church, 2191 Struble Road, and a funeral service will begin at 7 p.m. with Pastor Richard Lanning officiating.
A graveside service is set for Tuesday morning at Spring Grove Cemetery, 4521 Spring Grove Avenue in Cincinnati.
In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to the Fairfield Community Foundation, 5350 Pleasant Ave., Fairfield, Ohio 45014, or the Fairfield Food Pantry, 78 Donald Drive, Fairfield, Ohio 45014.
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