BOSTON -- Across many communities and neighborhoods, Sen. Ted Kennedy was remembered as someone whose actions affected lives for the better.

NewsCenter 5's Pam Cross reported that he's being thanked for his spirit of activism, when others kept quiet.

Wheelock College President Jackie Jenkins-Scott said Kennedy was known for getting things done. His death leaves a mix of emotions.

"Both sadness and inspiration and joy at what he was able to accomplish," Jenkins-Scott said.

Jenkins-Scott spent two decades running a Boston health center that had lost all federal funds when she took over. She said Kennedy helped save Dimock Community Health Center.

"Dimock, literally, would not be here today if that hadn't happened," Jenkins-Scott said. "He got on the phone, too, to say, 'I am with you. I going to help this center get its funding back.'"

Someone left flowers in tribute to the senator outside Dimock, where 40,000 people a year visit the facility.

But it wasn't just health care. When busing tore Boston apart, University of Massachusetts Vice Chancellor Charlie Titus was a youth worker at Freedom House.

"He was involved on a daily basis. He was concerned. He did a lot of work behind the scenes. He was not here on the street, but he was involved on a regular basis," Titus said.

Jenkins-Scott and Titus credit Kennedy for speaking up when he didn't have to and when few others were willing to help.