Monday would have been his 100th birthday.
Every morning for 30 years Joseph Charles would stand in front of his house at Oregon Street and Martin Luther King Way and wave to people. He would tell them "keep smiling" and "have a good day."
He died in 1998.
Monday morning, a group of people gathered at the south Berkeley street corner to remember him.
"I really just wanted to do it because I terribly miss Mr. Charles, after worshiping with him in church, and just seeing him as I was a child living in this neighborhood. So we just wanted to find a way to just keep his memory alive and keep Berkeley happy and keep people smiling on the way to work and school every day," organizer Denisha DeLane said.
The city of Berkeley has also issued a proclamation marking Mr. Charles' 100th birthday.
