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| Larry Stansbury (Photo by Patsy Lynch) | |
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By REBECCA ARMENDARIZ, Washington Blade
Nov 2 2009, 4:02 PM |
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Larry Stansbury, the first executive director of Brother Help Thyself and a Capital Pride Alliance founding board member, died Saturday in D.C. of complications stemming from a broken hip, according to Steve Blum, Stansbury’s roommate of 29 years. Stansbury was 61.
He first came to the District from Richmond, Va., in the 1970s after a four-year stint in the U.S. Navy ending in 1973. He worked at the D.C. Eagle, where he eventually became manager, and became involved in local LGBT activities largely through his memberships to the Centaur and Spartan gay motorcycle clubs, the latter of which he served in several roles, including president.
Stansbury had a kidney transplant in 1984, a development that allowed him to receive federal disability benefits and use his time to volunteer for LGBT nonprofits, Blum said.
Blum called Stansbury his “lifelong friend.” Stansbury’s partner of 12 years, James Kenner, died in 1990.
“He had a very limited family,” Blum said. “But he was my mother and my sister and my brother and everything else.”
In 1978, Stansbury helped create Brother Help Thyself, which provides funds for LGBT health, cultural and social services, said current executive director Tom Yates. After stepping down as the group’s director in 2006, Stansbury served on the organization’s board of directors as the Spartan representative.
Groups that have received donations from Brother Help Thyself include the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, the Whitman-Walker Clinic and the Mautner Project.
“He was the one who answered the phone, he got the mail, he was the point person,” Yates said. “When people needed to get a hold of Brother Help Thyself, they got a hold of Larry. He was the eyes and ears of the organization.”
Under Stansbury’s direction, Brother Help Thyself grew from an organization collecting $2,000 in grants to one bringing in more than $2 million, according to Rainbow History Project.
Stansbury also served on the Alexandria Task Force on AIDS, was vice president of the D.C. Center, and was involved with Capital Pride for more than 30 years.
Most recently, Stansbury served on the Capital Pride Alliance, which formed from a handful of Capital Pride organizers in 2008 and took over the task of planning the annual celebration from the Whitman-Walker Clinic.
“Larry was a fiery, passionate, dedicated individual who truly understood what it meant to be a servant leader,” said Capital Pride Board of Directors President Michael Lutz in a statement.
Lutz said that Stansbury sat on Pride’s planning committee, served on the board, and acted as an historian and head of security.
Blum said as Stansbury’s eyesight began to fail him this year from diabetes-related complications, he became less active in his charitable endeavors, but still served as the board’s treasurer.
Michael Sessa, the D.C. Center’s current volunteer president, said he worked with Stansbury and knew him through the leather community.
“He was executive director of [Brother Help Thyself] for 20 years, which I’m sure took skill and patience,” Sessa said. “He was definitely someone who liked volunteering in the community, and he could have given his time elsewhere. No one can deny his lasting commitment to the LGBT community.”
Paul Rose, a fellow Spartan Motorcycle Club member and a Brother Help Thyself founder, said he knew Stansbury for more than 25 years.
“When I stepped back after eight years, Larry filled in and developed [Brother Help Thyself] beyond whatever I had envisioned, and I was thrilled with that,” Rose said. “The organization will and has sorely missed him.”
Stansbury was elected as one of the Rainbow History Project’s Community Pioneers in 2007. The Community Pioneers program honors those who have shaped the District’s LGBT community.
“He was always busy,” said Mark Meinke, chair of the Rainbow History Project. “When you want to get something done, you don’t go to somebody who has time to do it. You go to somebody who has no time, but knows how to get it done. He was one of those kinds of people.”
In honor of Stansbury, Meinke published a memorial page on the Rainbow History Project’s web site.
“I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like without him,” Meinke said, “because he’s been such a part of our history.”
A memorial service will be held Dec. 12 at 1 p.m. at Stansbury and Blum’s shared residence, Alexandria Knolls West Condominiums, 6101 Edsall Rd., Alexandria, Va. In lieu of flowers, Blum asked that donations be made to Brother Help Thyself.
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