AS IS our annual custom, we remember here some of the notable artists, writers, and activists of the GLBT community who died within the past twelve months. Included this year are three members of Warhol’s Factory scene and four clergymen, listed separately at the end.
David Armstrong, photographer, succumbed to cancer on October 26, at the age of sixty. Originally from Arlington, Massachusetts, Armstrong graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University and later moved to New York. He and Nan Goldin, perhaps the best-known member of the Boston School, had been close friends since they met in high school in their early teens. His photographs were particularly notable for the ways in which they flattered his subjects’ character, rather than their vanity. He was author or co-author of over a half-dozen books of photography, including Night and Day (2012). It chronicles sexuality and style in the New York underground of the late 1970s.
Rebecca Blunk, arts administrator, died on June 22, of cancer, at the age of sixty, in Brookline, Massachusetts. Arriving in Boston from Nebraska in the 1980s, she joined the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), rising to executive director. She was executive director of the National Theater Project, where she promoted Native American arts programs and helped launch Center Stage, an organization that brings international performing artists to the U.S. She is survived by her spouse, novelist Marcie Hershman.
Leee Black Childers (né Lee B. Childers; he added the third “e” as a child), portrait photographer, died at age 68 on April 6 during a visit to L.A. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he attended a Baptist college near his hometown. In 1967, during the Summer of Love, he became fascinated by a Life magazine article about Timothy Leary. He left town almost immediately for San Francisco, where he developed an interest in photography and began taking pictures of drag queens. Moving to New York, he gravitated to Warhol’s Factory scene, and his photos of Robert Mapplethorpe, Lou Reed, Debbie Harry, David Bowie, and others would become iconic. His book Drag Queens, Rent Boys, Pick Pockets, Junkies, Rockstars and Punks was published in 2012.
Tom Chorlton, gay activist and American history professor at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, died of cancer on January 5 at the age of 67. He was among the first to organize a political fundraising dinner for a gay rights cause, in 1981, in Washington, D.C., and the next year helped found the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Democratic Clubs. In 1988, he was the first openly gay candidate for a seat on the Washington City Council (he lost). Born in Belleville, Illinois, he was adopted as an infant. He received a bachelor’s in political science from St. Louis University and a master’s in government from Webster University in Missouri. A larger-than-life figure who loved world travel and theater, he described himself as “the world’s largest gay vegetarian hymn-singing agnostic.”
Stormé DeLarverie, nightclub singer and gay rights leader, died after a heart attack on May 24 at age 93 in Brooklyn. A “drag king” in today’s lingo, DeLarverie, while working as a bouncer, may have thrown the first punch at the Stonewall Riots of 1969, and was certainly one of the earliest figures of modern gay rights. Born in New Orleans of mixed-race parents, she grew up in California and began singing as a teen, first as a female and later as a male. She performed in Europe and Chicago, and was at one time emcee at the famed Jewel Box Revue. In a 1950s Revue program, DeLarverie is shown variously in a sailor suit and in a tux, and billed as “Miss Stormé DeLarverie.”
Michael Ehrhardt, a frequent contributor to these pages and a travel writer for Condé Nast for thirty years, died of a heart attack on February 4 at the age of 64. He had suffered from cancer. Born in New York City, he had lived for a period of time in Italy. A resident of New York City and Roseland, New Jersey, he graduated from St. John’s University. He is survived by Howard Cavallero, to whom he was married. Michael was the interviewer-in-chief for the GLR for many years, landing interviews with Edward Albee, Edmund White, Michael Cunningham, Colm Tóibín, and other writers.
Richard Foltz, songwriter and musician, died in Manhattan on January 25 at the age of 71. Born in rural Virginia, he moved to New York as a young man and was co-stage manager of the original cast of Boys in the Band, which opened Off Broadway in 1968. Around the same time, he was commissioned to write the music for The Devil His Due, a satirical revue, at St. Peter’s Gate. He was involved with Outmusic, an organization aimed at creating opportunities for GLBT musicians. He is survived by his partner, Eric Cameron.
Carl Goodman, activist and a co-founder of ACT UP, died on January 5 in Bristol, Rhode Island, at the age of 58. A longtime AIDS survivor who also struggled with depression, he took his own life. He had lived in many cities throughout his life, having studied at Williams College and the New School in San Francisco. A paralegal and business consultant, he lobbied for gay civil rights in the 1970s and was active in the early AIDS buyers’ club movement. He founded an ACT UP chapter in Portland, Oregon, in the 1980s, and was involved in many “zaps.” He is survived by Mario Cavero, to whom he was married.
Vernita Gray, activist for GLBT rights, died of cancer at age 65, in Chicago, on March 18. She had been an advocate of same-sex marriage for years and at her funeral was praised by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. At the invitation of President Obama, she visited the White House four times. A graduate of Columbia, she came out in 1969 after attending Woodstock. Her career included editing and writing for Lavender Woman newspaper and working at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for eighteen years, where she helped GLBT crime survivors. Her chapbook of poetry Sweet Sixteen was published in 1985. A biography titled Vernita Gray: From Woodstock to the White House, by Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen, was published shortly after her death.
Hudson, a single-named gallerist, died in Manhattan on February 10 at the age of 63. His first name is not a matter of public record. Born in New Haven, he took an interest in the arts as a child and went on to earn an MFA in painting at the University of Cincinnati. A one-time dancer and performance artist who performed politically and sexually provocative pieces throughout North America, he opened a gallery in Chicago in 1984, moving it to New York in 1988. He was known for the “subtle iconoclasm” of his gallery designs, going against the typical Spartan style, ignoring trends and highlighting the overlooked, including drawings by Tom of Finland. A New York Times obit named him one of the most “prescient, independent-minded and admired gallerists of his generation.”
Frankie Knuckles (né Francis Warren Nicholls, Jr.), called the “godfather of house music,” died in Chicago on March 31 at the age of 59. Born in the Bronx, he was a DJ, record producer, and remixer who pioneered electronic dance music culture. Rolling Stone named him “one of the dozen most important DJs of all time.” He was inducted into Chicago’s Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1996, won a Grammy Award in 1998, and was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2005. For a time he was a DJ at the Continental Baths, later moving to Chicago to open some highly successful clubs.
Edward G. Leffingwell, curator and critic, died at 72 on August 5, in Queens, after cardiac arrest. Born in Pennsylvania, he studied art in Youngstown and received a master’s in art history from the University of Cincinnati. He arrived in New York in the 1960s, making a living fashioning handmade leather fetish wear. He hung out at Max’s Kansas City and Warhol’s Factory and was involved with experimental film as well as conceptual and minimalist art. He became director of the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery and organized several important shows at MoMa/P.S. One in Queens. He was a prolific writer and edited two books about Factory filmmaker Jack Smith.
José Esteban Muñoz, queer theorist, writer, and editor died on December 3, 2013, at the age of 46, in New York City, of unknown causes. He was a prolific writer—most recently, of Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity (2009). His interests were wide-ranging and included such GLBT pop figures as Carmelita Tropicana, Isaac Julien, Kevin Aviance, and Andy Warhol. Born in Cuba, he came to Miami as an infant, earned his BA at Sarah Lawrence and his doctorate at Duke, where he was mentored by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. He taught at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. He is survived by his partner John Andrews.
Bernard Perlin, magical realist artist, died on January 14 at his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Born in Richmond, Virginia, he studied at several major art academies and became a magazine illustrator. Initially painting in the style of social realism and turning out posters for the U.S. Office of War Information during World War II, he moved on to magic realism, landscapes, still lifes, and “cocktail culture.” Some of his works are held at MoMA, among other major institutions. He is survived by his partner of 57 years, Edward Newell.
Daniel H. Renberg, businessman and philanthropist, died on January 13, in L.A., at the age of 83. Born in Chicago, he received journalism and business degrees from Northeastern and Harvard. A committed philanthropist, particularly for GLBT causes, he was a major donor to the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center and received the glsen lifetime achievement award. A one-time major investor in The Advocate, he supported Democratic candidates for office. He is survived by his partner of over fifty years, Eugene Kapaloski.
Rene Ricard, poet, art critic, and painter, died in Manhattan at age 67 on February 1. A member of Warhol’s inner circle, he appeared in films, and played Warhol in The Andy Warhol Story. Known for being a bon vivant with encyclopedic knowledge on many subjects, but especially art, he was much in demand at parties. Born in Boston, he grew up in New Bedford and was a high school dropout. He became friends with Boston poet John Wieners, who encouraged him to sit in on classes at Harvard. The author of several books of poetry, he contributed essays to art books and was instrumental in promoting the careers of such artists as Julian Schnabel, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Mike Ritter, a reporter and artist, died of heart disease on March 30, in Atlanta, at the age of 48. He was a Washington Blade contributor and art director for the Atlanta-based GLBT newspaper GA Voice. Born in Washington State, he attended Arizona State University, where he won numerous journalism and cartooning awards. During his professional career he was president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists in 2003-2004. At that time, he was one of the few openly gay cartoonists at a mainstream daily newspaper.
Frank M. Robinson, a writer in many genres, died on June 30 in San Francisco, at the age of 87, of heart disease and pneumonia. Growing up in Chicago, he took a master’s in journalism at Northwestern. A science fiction writer, he wrote some successful novels and screenplays, and moved to San Francisco where he met Harvey Milk, whom he backed financially. He was one of Milk’s closest friends and may be best known as the writer of Milk’s “You’ve Got to Have Hope” speech.
Carl T. Strickland, activist and philanthropist, died on August 22 at the age of forty after a boating accident on Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, he graduated from the University of San Francisco and was a real estate developer. In 2001 he co-founded the Point Foundation, the national GLBT scholarship fund, which was initially funded by a grant from Strickland and his partner Bruce Lindstrom. He and Lindstrom, who survives him, had resigned from the Point Foundation board in April 2014.
Judith Waterman, feminist and painter, died on June 5, in Brooklyn, at the age of 78. Born in Barrington, Illinois, she came to New York in the early 1960s and earned a master’s in art history from Hunter College. Deeply interested in politics and the arts, she held a variety of day jobs, including teaching at many colleges, but she particularly enjoyed teaching art to senior citizens. She exhibited in many New York galleries, and her work is held in the collections of several New York colleges. She is survived by her partner, writer Irena Klepfisz.
Four Clergymen Remembered
Four Christian clergymen who died over the last twelve months were outspoken on a national scale in their support of gay and lesbian rights. Two of the men were coincidentally born in the same town; two attended the same divinity school.
E. Otis Charles died on December 2, 2013 in San Francisco at the age of 87. Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, he graduated from General Theological Seminary in New York. Early in his career, he was the Episcopal bishop of Utah and later served as executive director of Oasis/California, the gay and lesbian ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of California, which he co-founded. He came out in 1993 shortly after announcing his retirement, and he and his wife of over forty years later divorced. In 1999, he was arrested at a national Episcopal convention in Denver while protesting the church’s treatment of gays and lesbians. He was predeceased by Felipe Sanchez-Paris, whom he had married in 2004.
Martin D. McLee died on September 6 at the age of 58, after a brief illness. He was resident bishop for the New York Area of the United Methodist Church. Born in Brooklyn, he earned a law degree from Texas Southern and a divinity degree from Southern Methodist. A committed activist, lecturing on hiv/aids, racial equality, and social justice, he was outspoken in calling for GLBT inclusion in all areas of life, calling for “the cessation of church trials” related to same-sex marriage. Among the nationwide posts he held was vice president of Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century Initiative.
Robert Nugent died of cancer at the age of 76 on January 1, in Milwaukee. Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, he received his master’s in library science from Villanova and divinity degree from Yale. With Sister Jeannine Gramick, a Catholic nun and GLBT activist, he co-founded New Ways Ministry, aimed at fostering acceptance of gay and lesbian Catholics. He wrote and lectured widely, receiving awards from such organizations as pflag and Dignity USA. He was censured in 1999 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) and eventually forbidden to minister to gay and lesbian Catholics. In his last years, he was pastor in a Catholic church in Pennsylvania, from which he retired shortly before his death. Among his books were A Challenge to Love: Gay and Lesbian Catholics in the Church (1983), of which he was the editor, and Building Bridges: Gay & Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church (1992), co-written with Jeannine Gramick.
M. Thomas Shaw died on October 16 at the age of 69, in West Newbury, Massachusetts, of cancer. For twenty years, he was head of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, one of the largest in the U.S. Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, he graduated from General Theological Seminary and Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He was elected bishop in 1994, the first monk in the Episcopal Church’s history to serve in that position. He was an advocate for gay rights and one of the leading supporters of Gene Robinson as a church bishop. In a 2012 interview with the Boston Globe for a documentary about Robinson, “Love Free or Die,” he let it be known that he was gay and celibate, but that he “didn’t want his choice to be a celibate monk to be held up as an example.”
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