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Reagan adviser, Log Cabin supporter Bob Bonitati dies at 79

Accompanied president to Hilton Hotel on day of assassination attempt

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Bob Bonitati, gay news, Washington Blade

Bob Bonitati died at age 79. (Photo by Tony Burns)

Robert ā€œBobā€ Bonitati, a longtime government affairs specialist in Washington who worked as White House special assistant to President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and served as a behind-the-scenes adviser to Log Cabin Republicans in the 1990s, died Oct. 31 in Tampa, Fla. He was 79.

His friend Phil Sparrow said during his retirement in recent years he spent summers in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and winters at his home in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Sparrow said Bonitati was participating in an experimental cancer treatment protocol in Tampa at the time of his passing.

A write-up about his career prepared by Sparrow and his longtime friend Robert Kabel says Bonitati, a native of Bridgeport, Conn., graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in political science. It says he did graduate work at Arizona State University and the University of Tennessee.

While at Tennessee he met then-U.S. Sen. Howard Baker (R-Tenn.) and worked on Bakerā€™s re-election committee before joining Baker in 1967 as his Senate chief of staff. Among the positions he held after leaving his Senate job for the private sector was heading the government affairs office for the Airline Pilots Association for six years.

According to Sparrow and Kabelā€™s write-up, Bonitati joined the Reagan White House as a Special Assistant to the President, where he served as White House liaison to organized labor.

The write-up says Bonitati was with Reagan on March 30, 1981 at the Washington Hilton Hotel where the president delivered a speech to the Building Trades Union.

ā€œAs they were walking out of the hotel together to return to the White House Bob was stopped momentarily by a friend just as the President exited and was shot,ā€ says the write-up. ā€œBob credited his friend with saving his life.ā€

Minutes later Reagan was rushed to George Washington University Hospital where doctors said a gunshot wound by would-be assassin John Hinckley came close to taking his life.

Bonitati lived at the time in D.C.ā€™s Dupont Circle area and had a wide range of Washington friends, both Republicans and Democrats, people who knew him said. Following his White House job he became part owner of a flower shop while working for the Kamber Group, a prominent public relations and government affairs firm. He later joined The Hawthorne Group, another public affairs firm.

Kabel and Rich Tafel, who served as president of the national gay group Log Cabin Republicans in the 1990s, said Bonitati played an important role as an informal, behind-the-scenes adviser to Log Cabin.

ā€œWe opened our D.C. office in 1993, and Bob was a key adviser for Log Cabin and me in the 1990s,ā€ Tafel said. ā€œHe gave great advice, great strategy. He was particularly helpful to me, especially in the early years when I was new to D.C.ā€

Kabel said that in marked contrast to the current toxic, highly partisan atmosphere in Washington, Bonitati was a product of the old school mold where Republicans and Democrats were able to engage in bipartisan efforts to get things done in Congress.

ā€œBob enjoyed his many years as a visitor and then in retirement as a homeowner in Rehoboth and Ft. Lauderdale,ā€ Sparrow and Kabel said in their write-up. ā€œHe was a longtime supporter of CAMP Rehoboth, the LGBT community center in Rehoboth,ā€ the two said.

ā€œBob Bonitati was an amazing man who did good in his life and who made friends wherever he went,ā€ said friend Peter Rosenstein. ā€œHe was a Republican who I could talk and communicate with. He was a member of a Republican Party that seems to no longer exist. He was a decent man who cared about people. Bob, may you rest in peace, knowing you brought joy and smiles to many during your life and that you will be remembered and missed each day by all of them.ā€

Bonitati is survived by his sister, Peggy Person of Tampa, Fla.; his niece, Sandra Butte; his nephew, Richard Person, and his great nephew, Ryan Butte. Sparrow and Kabel said he is also survived by ā€œmany wonderful friends in Rehoboth Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Washington, D.C.ā€

A Celebration of Life for Bonitati was scheduled to be hosted by family members, Sparrow and friends on Dec. 2 from 5-7 p.m. at the Vantage View Condominium where Bonitati lived at 2841 North Ocean Blvd. in Ft. Lauderdale. Plans for a Celebration of Life in Rehoboth and D.C. were expected to be announced in the near future.

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District of Columbia

Gay man found unconscious near D.C. gay bar dies

Police release video of suspects in incident listed as robbery

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D.C. police released a video showing two suspects and a vehicle they believe the suspects used in committing the robbery of Bryan Smith that led to his death. (Screen capture via MPD YouTube)

D.C. police have confirmed that a gay man who worked as a hairstylist and a DJ and who was found unconscious about 5 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 27, at the intersection of 5th and T Streets, N.W. near the gay bar Uproar has died.

Friends who knew the victim, Bryan Smith, stated in a GoFundMe message seeking support for his medical expenses that he was hospitalized for a severe head injury. His family members told Fox 5 News that he was in a coma.

A D.C. police spokesperson confirmed that Smith died on Nov. 7 and the cause and circumstances surrounding his death were pending with the Northern Virginia Medical Examinerā€™s Office. ā€œOnce we have more information, weā€™ll be putting that out,ā€ D.C. police spokesperson Thomas Lynch told the Washington Blade.

The information released by D.C police indicates Smith at some point was transferred from a D.C. hospital where he was taken by ambulance at the time he was found unconscious to a Virginia hospital, most likely at the request of family members.

Police also released a video showing two suspects and a vehicle they believe the suspects used in committing the robbery of Smith.

ā€œThe ongoing investigation has determined that the man was robbed by two suspects while walking on the block,ā€ according to an Oct. 30 police statement released before Smith died. ā€œDetectives are still working to determine how the victim sustained his injuries,ā€ the statement says.

The statement adds that the suspects have been linked to three other offenses that took place that same morning, two of which were attempted robberies and one of which was a robbery of victims on nearby streets.

Smith was found unconscious on Oct. 27 about five hours after another gay man, Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarra, 22, was reportedly attacked and beaten by as many as 15 men and women at the McDonaldā€™s restaurant at 14th and U Street, N.W., according to a D.C. police report and information provided by Lascarraā€™s husband.

D.C. police announced they made an arrest Nov. 5 of a 16-year-old juvenile male in connection with the McDonaldā€™s case. The arrest came on the same day police released photos of seven suspects in the McDonaldā€™s assault case taken from video cameras at or near the McDonaldā€™s.

In their release of the video showing the two suspects in the Smith case, police are asking that anyone who may recognize the two individuals should contact police at 202-727-9099 or text their tip to the departmentā€™s TEXT TIP Line at 50411.

ā€œAnyone who may have seen or heard something suspicious in the 500 block of T Street, NW, or the surrounding area around 5:00 a.m. Sunday [Oct. 27] is asked to call the police or text police,ā€ the statement accompanying the release of the police video says. 

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Comings & Goings

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Gary Fisher

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].Ā 

Congratulations to Rehoboth Beach artist Gary Fisher who will be exhibiting at Aqua Art Miami, during Art Basel week, Dec. 4 – 8, 2024, with Nepenthe Gallery, booth #226. Fisher says these days he creates primarily in his studio and surrounding gardens in Rehoboth Beach, Del. Prior to that he had a studio on 14th Street, N.W., in D.C. He says he found painting, his passion, in mid-life, after a career as a natural resource and environmental attorney. He got active as a participant in the local art scene in D.C. as a founding member of the Mid-City Artists Group and created and managed the Gallery in Results the Gym, on Capitol Hill. He also served as the Managing Art Director for the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), and is now an active member of the Rehoboth Art League. 

Fisher paints in oils and his artwork ranges from the textural abstract landscape work that has been the focus of his major recent work, to brilliantly colored still life, figurative paintings and recently he has had an interest in small plein-air paintings inspired from the poppy fields of Provence, and his own beautiful gardens in Rehoboth.

He talks about his art as an expression of the ā€œbeauty I see all around me, particularly the coastal environment with its beautiful sunrises and sunsets reflecting off the wetlands and bays of Delaware, the gardens around my studio, or the amazing places I travel on my active biking, hiking, and painting trips.ā€  

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Baltimore

5 more Salisbury students charged after man said he was lured to apartment attack

Suspects allegedly targeted victim on Grindr

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Twelve total Salisbury University students have been charged in an attack, which police said was captured on video, that is being investigated as a hate crime. (Photo from Tom Nappi/Office of the Maryland Governor)

By CODY BOTELER | Five more Salisbury University students have been charged in an alleged attack where a man said he was lured into an apartment and punched, kicked, and spat on because of his ā€œsexual preferences,ā€ the Salisbury Police Department said Thursday afternoon.

The latest charges come after seven students were arrested earlier in the week, in an incident law enforcement officials are investigating as a hate crime.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

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