Jacob Kaskey, a lobbyist and former staffer of Pennsylvania’s largest LGBT-rights organization, died late last month. The cause of death was ruled accidental. He was 33.
Kaskey was most recently living in Los Angeles, Calif., but spent the past eight years in Philly.
From September 2008-October 2009, he served as policy and programs director for Equality Advocates, which has since become Equality Pennsylvania, and from October 2009-January 2010, he was its managing director.
In those roles, Kaskey coordinated lobbying efforts, collaborated with coalition partners to mobilize grassroots support for LGBT legislation, spearheaded the organization’s statewide media outreach, led the reorganization of the agency’s board to include representation from all corners of the state and managed the organization’s day-to-day staffing needs, operations, donor development and fundraising.
Mason Lane, chief of staff for state Rep. Brian Sims, said Kaskey hired him as an Equality Advocates intern, later giving him his first job, as the organization’s field organizer. He went on to become its policy coordinator.
“He’s a big reason I got involved in LGBT civil rights and the work I’m doing now,” Lane said. “Jake was a relentless, tireless advocate.”
Lane added that Kaskey’s passion for his work was inspiring.
“He had tons of energy and was always very positive,” he said. “He had incredible passion and vitality, which was really very motivating to everyone around him.”
That’s a sentiment echoed by Natalie Hrubos, who also met Kaskey when she was interning at the organization, in its legal clinic.
“You always felt his presence and his passion whenever you were in a room with him, especially when he was excited, which was nearly all the time,” she said, noting that Kaskey organized the agency’s first statewide summit and built a statewide listserv. “He worked really hard during his time at Equality Advocates. He was so dedicated to advancing the organization and growing it. He felt really strongly about building a network of advocates across the state and put so much of himself, his heart and soul, into making that a reality.”
No matter the task, Hrubos added, his passion shone through, and was infectious.
“Jake was really good at getting other people excited about the work he was doing, and getting them engaged in advocacy. He made the work fun for everyone,” she said. “He was a really talented organizer. That’s what he did best and where he really shined as a person.”
Community organizing went hand in hand with his passion for social justice, which began exhibiting itself at an early age, said his father, Tom Kaskey.
“He was always for the underdog and always believed firmly that equality was key. He fought for people,” Tom said, noting that his son’s LinkedIn summary aptly describes his focus: “I’m a passionate advocate toward creating equality for the disenfranchised among us all.”
Kaskey grew up in Olmsted Falls, OH, where his family still lives. He was involved with Scouting throughout his childhood, earning the Eagle Scout designation in 1998. While a senior at Olmsted Falls High School, he was named one of Ohio’s top-two volunteers in the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.
In a Congressional memo honoring Kaskey for that award, former Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio described how Kaskey launched a coloring-book and crayon drive to benefit homeless children, a project he initiated after serving meals at a local homeless shelter, where he saw lack of activities for youth.
“He enlisted the help of his classmates and others. He wrote letters and made personal visits to area businesses asking for donations of money and coloring books,” Kucinich stated in the Congressional memo. “When they delivered the books to the shelter, Jacob and his volunteers stayed to serve dinner and play with the children. Jacob was nominated by his high school for his outstanding service to the community, an effort which needed to be recognized.”
The Prudential award afforded Kaskey a trip to Washington, D.C., where his father said he so impressed Kucinich that he offered him a position in his office.
“He told Jake, ‘Once you’re out of high school, come work for me in Cleveland,’ and that continued until he went off to American [University], and then Dennis put him on as a paid staffer,” Tom said. “And from there, his career just blossomed.”
While at the D.C. university, Kaskey worked on Kucinich’s Congressional campaign and later served as a deputy field director, staff assistant and staff director.
He earned his bachelor’s in political science and communication, legal institutions, economics and government from AU. He was the first-ever student director of AU’s School of Public Affairs Leadership Program, founded its speakers’ series and wrote its first strategic plan. He was a member of several collegiate honor societies and president of AU’s Circle K International, a collegiate community-service organization.
His post-college organizing and lobbying took him to a number of different states.
Kaskey served as the Iowa Caucus field organizer for Dick Gephardt’s presidential campaign from 2003-04; the statewide field director of the House Democratic Campaign Committee of the Missouri Democratic Party in 2004; a consultant and campaign manager for the Palatine Township Democratic Organization in Chicago in 2005; field organizer for Grassroots Solutions in Minneapolis from 2004-06; and state canvas director of the Ohio Education Association Independent Expenditure Campaign in 2006.
In 2006, The Advocate named him to its “Top 25 Under 25” list of LGBT leaders.
“He was an organizer, that’s what he did,” Kaskey’s father said. “If he had a cause, he would totally focus on getting people involved. He just had that quality. Before he moved to Philadelphia, he was in Chicago when Barack Obama was a state senator and went out and had drinks with him a couple times. He was a politics geek, an organizer and just loved and lived for that stuff.”
Outside of politics, he supported causes like Philadelphia’s AIDS Walk, sat on the board of Spiral Q Puppet Theater from 2008-10 and volunteered in ActionAIDS’ Buddy Program from 2007-09.
Hrubos said Kaskey was a social-media whiz, who often jokingly posted “how-to” tech guides on her Facebook wall.
“He would get excited about nerdy things. I’m pretty sure one time he used the word ‘geektastic’ multiple times in a five-minute span,” she laughed. “He loved to learn, and he loved to share that with others.”
Kaskey was also a fierce friend, Hrubos said, and one who embraced affection.
“He was a truly wonderful friend, just a really warm and loving person. I don’t think I have a friend who I’ve hugged and kissed more than him, that’s just how he was; every greeting was always so full of affection,” she said, noting he often went above and beyond for those in his life.
“He treated every visit like it was a special occasion. I went to his apartment for dinner one time and walked into a candlelit living room and he had made all these little hors d’oeuvres and was cooking dinner. It felt like we were on a date,” Hrubos laughed. “But he was just so cute like that. He was always going out of his way to do nice things for other people.”
Tom said his son’s passion for people permeated his personal and professional life, and positively influenced those with whom he came into contact.
“It was an honor having him as a son, an honor. He made everybody a little better; he made me better just by being himself. When he stepped into a room, he lit it up. He just had that quality. It’s a loss, a tragic loss, and not just for us, but to society.”
In addition to his father, Kaskey is survived by his mother, Pat, and sister, Katie. A memorial is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sept. 12 at Olmsted Falls Community Church, 7853 Main St., Olmsted Falls, OH 44138. Donations can be made to the Olmsted Falls Endowment and Alumni in care of the Jake Kaskey Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 38244, Olmsted Falls, OH 44138.