Jul 17, 2009  |  By: Amy Cavanaugh  | COMMENTS     

Friends and colleagues of Desi Deschaine mourned the popular 30-year-old D.C. City Council staffer Tuesday with a vigil in Logan Circle after he was found dead in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor following a weekend boating trip.

Deschaine, who was gay, worked as communications director for D.C. City Council member Jack Evans. He was reported missing Monday and his body was recovered Tuesday morning. Police do not suspect foul play in the death.

“I’m feeling profound loss,” said J’aime Huret, Deschaine’s boyfriend. “He was a new love of mine, and we had been together about three months. We’ve traveled together extensively and spent every weekend together.

“We’ve been on the boat together probably 10 of the last 15 weekends, and Desi’s been around boats and the water for 15 years, if not longer.”

Lee Brian Reba, who’s gay and the deputy chief of staff for D.C. City Council Chair Vincent Gray, described his longtime friend and colleague Deschaine as “the quintessential public servant.”

“Desi loved to serve,” he said. “He did have a heart and talent for bringing people together. This city suffered a great loss and the citizens of the District have a major void to fill.”

Reba said a wake is planned for Sunday at O’Brien Funeral Home in Bristol, Conn., and a funeral is set for Monday at St. Matthew’s Church in Bristol. He said a D.C. memorial is being planned for August.

Jeff Coudriet, a committee clerk for Evans and old friend of Deschaine, said that everyone in Evans’ office was “just utterly grief stricken” at the news of Deschaine’s death.

Coudriet said Deschaine invited him and others to join him on Sunday’s boat trip.

“I wasn’t able to go, but it was something he and his boyfriend did regularly up there this summer,” Coudriet said. “We don’t have much more on the details of on the incident itself, other than it does appear to be accidental.”

In a statement Tuesday, Evans described Deschaine as “a bright, bubbly, enthusiastic, and wonderful person who you just could not help but love.”

“I had the great pleasure of knowing and working with him not just on my staff, but on my campaigns … and numerous other capacities and roles,” Evans said. “He brought his passion, energy and good spirits to everything and everyone he touched over the years. My staff and I share the grief of and extend our condolences to Desi’s family and friends, and deeply mourn his untimely loss.”

Huret posted a public message of mourning on Deschaine’s Facebook page Tuesday.

“Desi, yours and my friendship was something that does not come along very often,” he wrote. “You were a very special person and the adventure to get to know [each] other better was pure joy for both of us, as evident to so many of both of our friends. Other than politics and friends, your second passion in life was fun and sun on the water. I am truly blessed that I had the opportunity with our eight guests to enjoy an incredibly beautiful day on the Chesapeake Bay together. What an extraordinary lasting memory to remember you by.”

Jeffrey Richardson, president of the Gertrude Stein Club, which counted Deschaine among its members, issued a statement Tuesday fondly remembering Deschaine.

“Desi Deschaine was a bright and shining star in the D.C. Democratic Party and in the D.C. activist community,” he said. “Desi involved himself in every sector of D.C. society and loved to build bridges and facilitate connections across communities. Desi will be missed, but through the joy he shared with us and his deep commitment to the District, his spirit will live on.”

A couple hundred friends gathered in Logan Circle on Tuesday to share memories of their friend during a vigil that Richardson organized. Rick Rosendall, a speaker and longtime local activist, said Deschaine had a magnanimous quality and that people instantly felt at ease when he entered a room.

D.C. City Council member Kwame Brown appeared at the event with flowers. Neither Evans nor Coudriet were at the vigil; Coudriet said he was too upset to attend.

“We were all feeling very raw still about the whole thing and decided to not go,” Coudriet wrote in an e-mail. “Such a horrible tragedy and I’m totally heartbroken. It just would have been too hard for me, but I’m very glad it happened. People needed that, I know. We’ve been riding the rollercoaster since Monday morning on this and I had to get off and be quiet for a while. So very sad.”

Deschaine has served as vice president of the Logan Circle Community Association; ...