This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

Kenneth Saunders III was the kind of friend who knew the best new place to eat, and had the technological skills to find a coupon on his cellphone to slice a couple of dollars off the tab. Then, after the meal, he would send you the selfies he took along the way.

He was civic-minded, too, making a name for himself as an optimistic peacemaker in the sometimes heated world of neighborhood politics, especially in sprawling Dekalb County, east of Atlanta, where he lived.

“I don’t think he had biased eyes in any direction at all,” said Kenneth Saunders Jr., his father. “You have the issues that come between the white and black politicians, but he had friends on both sides. Even if he was opposed to them, he would work with them.”