Kevin Dunk always believed in the underdog.

He helped low- and moderate-income families in Racine get their own homes; he believed in his family's strength after his father left; and he stayed positive when doctors diagnosed him with one of the most aggressive cancers.

Dunk, a graduate of Park High School and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, spent much of his life working for the Racine County Housing Authority where he implemented home ownership programs. Dunk died July 29 in Maitland, Fla., after an 18-month battle with cancer. He was 50.

"It was very important that he did his best to help those that didn't have the opportunities we had," said Dunk's brother, Christopher Dunk, 48, of Pleasant Prairie. "That value was instilled in my family. We were raised very much that way, but he really took it to heart. He put it into action."

Dunk's father left his family when he was a child, and he was raised by his mother, said Dunk's wife, Cindy Centell-Dunk, 50.

"It explains his compassion for other people," she said.

Dunk received his degree in social work and held jobs as a probation officer, drug rehabilitation counselor, and housing management specialist, said Centell-Dunk.

"He got involved with housing and that just became his mission," she said.

Dunk went above and beyond at his job, said Chuck Bennett of Mount Pleasant, Dunk's boss at the Racine County Housing Authority for 15 years.

"He was an exceptional employee," Bennett said. "He took the agency from public assistance to home ownership. He established the First Time Home Buyers Program before others were even in existence."

The county donated vacant lots or homes, and Dunk used grant money to construct about 20 new homes for qualified families. The housing authority then worked with the families to develop good credit, allowing them to become the homes' owners, Bennett said.

"The neighborhoods turned around. It had a huge impact on the inner city," he said.

On the job, Dunk knew how to get things done and how to have fun in the process.

Kim Vamecnik, 49, a Racine County Housing Authority housing

management specialist, worked with Dunk for nine years. She remembered a time she and Dunk took aluminum siding off a house in the rain.

"We had to take it to a scrap yard, and it was pouring rain with just the two of us loading and unloading," she said. "After that he started calling me 'Scrappy.' "

Vamecnik said Dunk was always happy to listen.

"He was (a boss) you could go talk to if you had a problem whether it was work, home, whatever," she said.

Dunk worked as the housing authority deputy director in Racine from 1989 to 2004. After that he became the executive director for the Seminole County Housing Authority in Florida.

Dunk was diagnosed with tonsil cancer in 2006.

"His doctor said it was one of the top five of most aggressive cancers he ever had to treat," Centell-Dunk said. "Kevin's attitude was always positive and always joking. He was never as serious as the cancer he was battling."

No services were held for Dunk, but family will host a life celebration on Aug. 17 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the DeKoven Center, 600 21st St.