Christopher Howland Webber, Program Director for Bike & Build, a national non-profit organization, died the morning of March 3, 2007 of injuries sustained in a pedestrian accident in New York City.

Chris, 25, combined his love of sport, his interest in people, and his passion for community service by organizing bicycle tours for college students across the United States to raise funds for affordable housing projects and to introduce the riders to the housing needs in American communities.

During his work for Bike & Build, starting in the fall of 2005, Chris helped the organization to nearly double the size of its programming and the money it directed to partner affordable housing organizations.

“Chris’s dedication to Bike & Build and his unwavering desire to strengthen the organization constantly

impressed me,” said former Executive Director, Amelia Hanley, who worked with Chris. “The passion he had for the organization came largely from his interactions with riders and alumni. He constantly told me that his favorite part of the job was being on the road, meeting riders and getting to know them.” Before joining the organization staff, Chris had himself ridden on two coast-to-coast fundraising trips, including Bike & Build’s Northern U.S. route in 2005.

The other cross-country trip Chris completed was the Habitat Bicycle Challenge in 2001, from New Haven, CT to Seattle, WA, where he met Marc Bush, who later founded Bike & Build.

“Having had such a great time on the Habitat Bicycle Challenge led me to start Bike & Build,” Bush said, “and Chris was such a big part of my HBC experience.  He always had such a great attitude and spirit, and a lot of energy for his friends and his work.”

Chris was an adventurer who had traveled widely. In 1999, at the age of 17, he rode a 1200 km bike trip from Cairns to Cape York, Australia. He was the only American on the tour, and the youngest. During a college semester abroad at University College, London, he traveled extensively on the European continent.  Chris spent time in western Canada. He later traveled across Australia a second time by train from Sydney to Perth.

Chris grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, where he attended the Pike School. When his family spent a year in Buffalo, NY, he attended eighth grade at the Nichols School in Buffalo. He graduated from Middlesex School in Concord, MA, in June of 2000. Chris deferred his college admission to Vassar College to work for a year in a condominium resort in Snowmass, CO, and to become an expert skier. He then attended Vassar College, and graduated in May 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Psychology. After graduation, he worked briefly for the Navy Department in Washington, D.C., before moving to New York and joining Bike & Build.