Keith D. Cylar Tribute by the Honoroble David Dinkins
Canon Williams; Charles (King), Keith’s partner; Keith’s mother Anna Patton, his Aunt Marva and Uncle Harry and other family, friends and admirers here today to pay tribute to Keith Cylar for the principles he embraced, the people he served, and the person he was.
I may not have known Keith Cylar as well as I would have liked, but well enough to observe that he was a complex man who brought the many facets of his public and private life to the fight for the health, the comfort, the well-being and dignity of those living with AIDS and without homes. I know enough of Keith Cylar to know that what he did, he did for others…and I add my name to the long list of grateful New Yorkers who are here today to thank him.
Those who saw Keith in action saw a powerful person, a strong man despite the toll that the virus took over his 20-year struggle. We saw in Keith a person who picked his battles and gave them his all. We saw in Keith a combination of a fighting spirit and a limitless compassion that made him a much-cherished friend…and a formidable foe. These qualities grew, at least in part, from his experiences as a Black man, a gay man and a man with AIDS in America.
But, it is as likely as not that Keith was one of those people who, even were he not gay or black, and if he didn’t have AIDS, would always wish to do what is good, what is just, what is fair…and what is right. Keith’s actions reflected his anger, not only at his own circumstances, but at the indignities countless others suffer every day in this City. And what some viewed as his radicalism was truly a reflection of his determination that every New Yorker with HIV/AIDS have an opportunity to enjoy the comforts of home that most of us have taken for granted.
There are no words to adequately express our gratitude to Keith Cylar for the choices he made. There is, however, a deep sense of our own obligation to continue the course he set and to do it with the presence, the passion and the compassion with which he charted that course…and with which he saw it through.
Over a quarter-century of service (over half his lifetime), Keith more than fulfilled the obligation he felt so intensely first, through his practice as a clinical social worker at Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital, the Lower East Side Service Center, and Montefiore Medical Center and later, with Act Up, and finally, as co-founder of one of our most effective advocacy groups Housing Works.
When I became Mayor, public awareness of the AIDS epidemic had increased and the issue of needle exchange was at the eye of the storm of controversy over prevention and treatment. While some advocates saw the needles that would be distributed as “clean,” many members of the Black community…including me…also saw the needle as a dangerous tool just waiting to be filled with illicit drugs that could not possibly improve the health of our community.
My initial answer to this was absolutely not but, after many long and frank meetings including one night spent in the basement office of City Hall with a real cross-section of concerned New Yorkers we came to agreement. One of those concerned New Yorkers was Debra Fraser-Howze of the Black Leadership Commission on AIDS; another was, of course, Keith Cylar.
That night led to my announcement that I would support needle exchange (with all the provisos of careful monitoring), and, not long afterwards, we expanded city services to develop special education and prevention programs tailored to African American gay men. That night, Keith helped to bring us all a bit closer to the day when our prayers will be answered and our job will be done…and when this plague is no more.
Many of you know well the trials that Keith experienced in his determination to serve and his vigilance in the face of the struggles of those who, like him, too often felt their health, their futures, and their very lives threatened. Even in the face of his own personal crises, he was steadfast in pursuit of ways to ease the suffering of others. Keith Cylar never forgot.
Keith Cylar never forgot, and he will never be forgotten. The many who worked alongside him will remember Keith Cylar. Members of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS and many other colleagues in the advocacy community will remember Keith Cylar. And every New Yorker facing the double threat of living with AIDS…and without a home…will long remember Keith Cylar.
Keith’s abrupt passing has silenced a true champion, but his message will be carried forward by his colleagues at Housing Works. His friends and family would certainly have wanted more years to enjoy his company, but we must remember that it is not how long he lived among us, but how well he lived those days he was given. He fought a good fight, he finished the course, he kept the faith. And he will not be forgotten.
In remembering, we must somehow come to grips with the fact that we have no power over death. In the timeless words of Ecclesiastes: “There is no man hath power over the spirit to retain the Spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death; there is no discharge in that war.” We have no power over death…but we do have power over life the power to live it to its fullest and to help others to live their lives fully as well.
And so today, as we mourn the passing of Keith Cylar, let us also celebrate a life well lived, one filled with energy and spirit, warmth and grace. And let us be thankful that we were fortunate enough to share it.
When Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of the meaning of a successful life, it is as if he had Keith Cylar in his thoughts. Emerson wrote that:
“To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To leave the world a little better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is the meaning of success.”
The passing of Keith Cylar gives us reason to mourn. But his life leaves us so much to celebrate. We will all miss him, but we must take some comfort in knowing that so many thousands were helped because of him, that our lives are so much fuller for having known him…and that the world is a better place because he was here.
To his partner Charles and his family I know that no words can console you now. I can only hope that you will, in time, find some consolation in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, who assured us that: “Death is not a period that ends the great sentence of life, but a comma that punctuates it to more lofty significance…death is not a blind alley that leads into a state of nothingness, but an open door which leads into life eternal.”
Keith Cylar has left us with more than memories he has left us a rich legacy of his commitment, a legacy of caring, and a legacy of doing for others. It is said, my friends, that service to others is the rent we pay for our space on earth. Keith Cylar departed us paid in full. Let him not look down and find any of us in arrears.
The Honorable David Dinkins, former Mayor of New York
