“It is often the thing from which we hide that eventually fatally wounds us — from the inside out — and such had been the case in Richmond. ... We did not highlight these places in an effort to hand out guilt or vent anger. We wanted to acknowledge their existence so that we could close the door and move forward.”

A microcosm of Mr. Kenney’s desire for equity and reconciliation was the hiring of his executive assistant, Cricket White, who is white.

“He was very intentional about saying his office truly needed to represent the city as a whole,” White recalled.

She described her former boss as “strategic” and “an excellent facilitator and negotiator” who could move people toward agreement when “he found their common thread.”

Holsworth said Mr. Kenney, as mayor, “always represented Richmond in a thoughtful manner. And he was personally respected across the political spectrum.

“I think the city was beginning to have a sense that a politics that was simply defined by racial division was being changed,” Holsworth added. “And I think Walter personally manifested that as someone who wanted to reach out to the entire community.”