On September 20th, 2025, we gathered with friends, family and neighbors to celebrate the life and legacy of Bob Oaks. Bob was one of Trust Montana’s co-founders and long-time board members. He championed community land trusts for over 20 years. He passed away on July 10th, 2025. Known as the “Unofficial Mayor of Missoula” and the “King of the Northside”, he was originally focused on making Missoula’s Northside more livable for working people. As the director of the North-Missoula CDC (now Front Step CLT), he secured safer pedestrian infrastructure, affordable homeownership opportunities, playgrounds, a community center and commercial kitchen (on the Westside), preserved the historic Moon-Randolph Homestead, and took on almost any project idea a neighbor would bring to his office. Eventually, he took on the statewide cause of Trust Montana with gusto, authoring the feasibility study and establishing the organization as a non profit.
Bob worked tirelessly as an advocate for regular people throughout his long career, especially on the task of finding solutions for Montanans who couldn’t afford a market rate home. He didn’t shy away from taking on seemingly impossible projects that could materially benefit people’s lives. He advocated for the use of community land trusts in communities of all sizes as a solution to home and farm price inflation and the resulting economic inequality that has plagued Montana.
You can read Bob’s obituary here.
Save the date: September 20th, 2025
Location: Moon Randolph Homestead, Missoula, MT
Time: 3pm to 8pm
What: Potluck, music, and storytelling about Bob
Please visit the Front Step CLT Website to RSVP:
