Local
Robert E. Barker dies at 69
Former deputy assistant director of OMB
Robert E. Barker
Robert E. Barker, a retired deputy assistant director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and longtime volunteer for the Washington Home and Community Hospices, the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, and the Whitman-Walker Clinic, died Sept. 9 in the Intensive Care Unit of the George Washington University Hospital. He died of an infection that occurred following August surgery. He was 69.
Barker was born to Samuel and Margaret Barker on Sept. 24, 1945 in Pittsburgh. He graduated from Peters Township High School in 1963 and from Wheeling Jesuit University in 1967. In his senior year at Wheeling Jesuit, Barker was elected to Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society, for his excellence in academics, leadership and commitment to the values represented by the Jesuit tradition. After a time as a seminarian at the Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pa., Barker joined the U.S. Army and after his tour was over in 1970, he moved to Washington where he worked as a civil servant for the U.S. Navy Department.
Barker worked for OMB from 1973 until his retirement in 2000. In his last two years at OMB, he was deputy assistant director for budget review and concepts, responsible for the preparation of the president’s budget and for tracking the president’s budget proposals through the congressional budget process. Earlier, he served as a staff member, then deputy, and then chief of the Budget Preparation Branch. In 1998, he received the prestigious Meritorious Presidential Rank Award.
Barker was a committed volunteer who provided care and support for terminally ill patients and their families. He began his volunteer work with Whitman-Walker in 1984, during the height of the AIDS crisis, serving as a case manager, team leader, and ultimately, a member of the board of directors. Since 1997, he had been a volunteer at the Washington Home and Community Hospices on Upton Street where, by the end of 2014, he had amassed a total of 3,635 volunteer hours. He received an award for excellence from the Community Hospices in 2003.
Barker was also a volunteer assistant to the music ministry at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on Rhode Island Avenue, organizing a variety of concerts and helping raise funds for completion of the church organ. He also served for several years as a board member of the Webster House Condominium on P Street N.W., where he lived.
Barker frequented 17th Street, N.W. and was a regular patron of Trio Restaurant. He cared for Marjorie C. “Margo” MacGregor, a former Trio manager, until her 2007 death.
Survivors include his brother, William Barker of Pittsburgh; and friends in Washington and elsewhere. Two of his closest friends of more than 25 years, Mary Wheeler and Robert (“Dr. Bob”) Williams, both of Washington, were frequent companions.
A funeral Mass will he held on Monday, Oct. 19 at 10 a.m. at St. Matthew the Apostle (1725 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.). In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Barker’s name may be made to the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, Washington Home and Community Hospices or to St. Matthew for the completion of its organ.
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Congratulations to Yadiel Meléndez, on their new role as Community Associate, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Meléndez is piloting a new role as a Community Associate at the Wanda Alston Foundation, where they support queer and trans young people in finding their footing, building independence, and experiencing a housing community where they are seen, valued, and affirmed. They are coming into this role with more than a decade of experience as a community organizer and operations specialist, supporting diverse communities through service, advocacy, and program coordination.
Previously they worked for Right Proper Brewing Shaw as a server and bartender and at Sephora, Washington, DC, and at FreshFarm, DC, in bilingual food access. They also worked freelance to build foundational structures for local queer BIPOC performance art coalitions, producing variety shows to curate space for marginalized performance artists in the community. They were a production manager for Haus of Hart Productions, a BIPOC centric performance art production. They also worked as field staff with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Stafford, Va.
Meléndez is bilingual, Spanish and English. Their work is guided by a commitment to dignity, safety, and trauma-informed engagement, particularly within LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
Congratulations also to Ben Rosen LICSW, on his new role as program director, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Rosen previously worked with Fountain House’s OnRamps program, helping to build a new, innovative outreach program for individuals considered chronically homeless, and living with serious mental illness, in the Times Square area of New York. Rosen is a Psychotherapist, having worked with SG Psychotherapy, and as the psychotherapist with the Nest Community Health Center (URAM).
Rosen has a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts: Musical Theatre, Minor in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Malloy University Conservatory; and his M.S.W. in Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups, from The Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, N.Y. He is independently licensed in New York and Washington, D.C.
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
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