Michigan Veterans Foundation CEO Chatman dies at age 67
Tyrone Chatman, founder and CEO of the Michigan Veterans Foundation, died at age 67 after a life of service to his country.
Chatman of Southfield was born in Detroit on Sept. 26, 1952. He joined the U.S. Army at the age 17 and served in Germany and Vietnam before his honorable discharge in 1972. He had been awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.
Chatman graduated from Detroit Southeastern High School in 1973, earned a bachelor of science degree in social work in 1982 and in 1985 established a 24-hour Multi-Service Center to assist homeless. He founded the Michigan Veterans Foundation in 1989 and is credited with saving thousands of veterans from addiction and homelessness.
He received the 1999 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leader Award, was awarded the Spirit of Detroit Award six times and the Americanism Award from the American Legion and received the Michigan Military and Veterans Hall of Honor Medal in 2019. He was a member of Vietnam Veterans of America, was a past commander of the Detroit Dorchester American Legion Post #387 and an honorary “Tuskegee Airmen” and “Buffalo Soldier.” He is buried at the Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly.
Over the years, as a testament to his leadership and their support of veterans, members of veteran posts and organizations throughout Oakland County and the surrounding communities have supported the Michigan Veterans Foundation and Detroit Veteran Center by providing meals, clothing and supplies and by hosting picnics each summer for them at their sites.