Join PGN in paying tribute to the many people our community lost this year:
Robert John “Bob” Burrowes Jr., 52
The chef and founder of Independence Squares dance club died Oct. 23 of kidney failure. He was a leather enthusiast and founding partner of the Gear Box, a leather shop in the basement of The Bike Stop. Don Lewis was his longtime partner.
Michael Carney
The longtime Venture Inn waiter died Aug. 20 of a heart attack. A native of Northeast Philadelphia, he joined the Venture Inn team around 1980.
James N. Clark, 77
The former vice president of a Philly-based ad agency and HIV/AIDS activist, who worked with organizations like Calcutta House, died Feb. 23 from complications related to Parkinson’s disease. He was vacationing in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the time with his partner of 45 years, Anthony A. Lyle.
Stephen T. Johnson, 63
The retired high-ranking Philadelphia Police official who served as the department’s LGBT liaison from July 2010 to November 2012 died Jan. 2 of pancreatic cancer. He took steps to extend the police department’s outreach to the LGBT community beyond Center City.
Frankie Morelli, 51
The longtime Voyeur bartender, considered “Gayborhood royalty,” died Nov. 2 of complications from cancer. Peter Jemo was his partner for 25 years.
Paul Myers Jr., 71
The retired airline-marketing representative and longtime City of Brotherly Love Softball League player died May 1 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Tony Iero was his partner for 34 years.
Danny Tolan, 23
The activities coordinator at a care home for older adults died March 10 of a drug overdose. He was passionate about fashion and music.
Joseph Starr III, 38
The retail manager and regular at Gayborhood establishments like U Bar and the former Westbury Bar died Dec. 27, 2014. The cause was not specified.
Charlene Arcila, 52
Arcila, credited with a number of pioneering LGBT efforts including SEPTA’s removal of gender markers from its transit passes, died April 7 at the age of 52. The cause was not specified.
Arcila’s many achievements included working with The Philadelphia AIDS Consortium and founding the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference in 2000. The AIDS consortium helped organize the event, which Mazzoni Center took over. Mazzoni honored Arcila with an award during the conference’s 10th anniversary and, over the summer, named an annual award after her.
In 2007, a SEPTA staffer challenged Arcila for the gender marker on her transpass and she filed a discrimination complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.
After a lengthy legal battle that made it to the state Supreme Court and a 2012 Philadelphia City Council resolution, SEPTA began making moves to abandon the practice of gender markers, which were officially removed in the summer of 2013.
Among her community honors, Arcila was named to the 2014 Trans 100 list, served as plenary speaker at the 2014 Pennsylvania Youth Action Conference and was named a grand marshal of the 2015 Pride parade in June. In lieu of her death, one of the two grand-marshal floats was renamed in Arcila’s honor.
She is survived by her partner Marcus Ecks.
Jacob Kaskey, 33
Kaskey, a lobbyist and former staffer of Pennsylvania’s largest LGBT-rights organization, died Aug. 27 at the age of 33. The cause of death was ruled accidental.
In 2006, The Advocate named him to its “Top 25 Under 25” list of LGBT leaders.
From September 2008 to October 2009, Kaskey served as policy and programs director for Equality Advocates, which has since become Equality Pennsylvania. He served as managing director until early 2010.
With the organization, Kaskey led the reorganization of the board to include representation from across Pennsylvania and managed daily operations, staffing, donor development and fundraising.
Kaskey also organized the agency’s first statewide summit and built a statewide listserv, said Natalie Hrubos, who met Kaskey while interning in the legal clinic of Equality Advocates.
Kaskey grew up in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, where his family still lives. As a child, he got involved in Scouting and became an Eagle Scout in 1998. In high school, Kaskey earned a Prudential Spirit of Community Award, which went to Ohio’s top two volunteers. Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio wrote a memo at the time honoring Kaskey for launching a coloring-book and crayon drive to benefit homeless children.
As an adult, Kaskey lived in Philadelphia for eight years before moving to Los Angeles, where he was most recently living. He is survived by his parents Tom and Pat and sister Katie.
Donna Mae Stemmer, 82
Stemmer, longtime City of Brotherly Love Softball League member and cheerleader, died in June 23 at the age of 82. She had a heart attack.
The Pennsauken, N.J., resident was active in the LGBT community, once serving as grand marshal of Philadelphia Pride.
She served in the U.S. Army for over 30 years. She reached the rank of lieutenant colonel and received 25 decorations, including the Distinguished Service Award and Commemorative Medal in 2008.
Stemmer also worked as a lawyer, after earning her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and law degree from Temple University.
Stemmer participated on the softball league’s Key West Wolves team for over two decades and earned the Steve Lehman Community Service award in 2014. She was best known for showing up to games in shiny cheerleading outfits.
In 2008, Stemmer, a Korean War veteran, fought to have her headstone at Arlington National Cemetery reflect her female name and affiliation with the City of Brotherly Love Softball League. At the time, Arlington denied her request because it violated headstone guidelines to include LGBT references.
She is buried in Brigadier General William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, N.J. Stemmer is survived by her brother, nephew and niece.
Brenda Torres, 45
Torres, co-founder of Philadelphia’s first Latino Pride festival and former co-owner of a local LGBT Latino bar, died Sept. 3 at the age of 45.
A North Philadelphia resident, Torres opened Rainbow Eye in the neighborhood in 2007 with Iris Melendez. The following year, the pair launched Latino Pride Festival, which drew 2,000 people.
Torres’ big focus was getting the Latino LGBT community together in any way she could, said Jose Figueroa, the former manager of Rainbow Eye. He said she would work with City Council to close the block in front of the bar for barbeques or other events.
Outside of community work, Melendez said Torres loved to dance, sing karaoke and visit the beach. She said Torres would most be remembered for her laughter and compassion toward others.
Torres is survived by her daughter, Tatiana Castro.
Lynn Zeitlin, 74
Zeitlin, former executive director of Equality Advocates, now called Equality Pennsylvania, died Sept. 10 after a brief illness. She was 74 and lived in Narberth.
Zeitlin worked with many LGBT organizations. In addition to her statewide efforts, she served as co-chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s LGBT outreach effort called Jewish Pride. She was also active with Equality Forum, Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club, Justice for Nizah Committee, Anti-Defamation League and Philadelphia Bar Association’s LGBT Rights Committee.
She was in her second term as commissioner of the Lower Merion Township Human Relations Commission when she died. Zeitlin received an undergraduate degree from Beaver College, now Arcadia University, in 1963 and a law degree from Villanova University in 1978. She worked for more than 30 years in law, most recently at the Center City firm Spadea, Lanard & Lignana.
Zeitlin had a strong commitment to the Jewish community. She helped secure the adoption of a pro-marriage-equality resolution from the local Jewish Federation. She also served as president of the Jewish Social Policy Action Network and attended Main Line Reform Temple Beth Elohim.
In the early 2000s, Zeitlin and her longtime partner, Gabriela Assagioli, had a Jewish wedding ceremony at the temple. When same-sex marriage licenses became available in Montgomery County in 2013, Zeitlin and Assagioli obtained a license and had a civil ceremony. State Sen. Daylin Leach officiated. Zeitlin’s children and grandchildren attended.