A San Francisco man who was that city’s first homeowner through the Habitat for Humanity charitable housing program, and a proud spokesman for the nonprofit organization, was murdered near his home on Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Ken Arthur, a 46-year-old father of three, overcame poverty after becoming the city’s first homeowner in the charitable program 12 years ago. He spoke last week to a crowd of more than 500 people at the San Francisco Habitat for Humanity’s annual fund-raising event about his success and invited everyone at the event to fly with him to Tennessee next month for his son’s college graduation, an occasion, family members say, Mr. Arthur spoke of with immense pride.

But his dream of seeing one of his sons graduate from college was not to be realized. At 12:30 a.m. on Monday, Mr. Arthur was found stabbed to death in the street, a few blocks from the Habitat home that he and his family helped refurbish and moved into in 1996.

The San Francisco police have made no arrests and say they have little to go on in the case.