Local
Banking analyst, Realtor Victor Saulsbury dies at 66
Lifelong D.C.-area resident loved to travel


Victor Saulsbury, a lifelong D.C. area resident. died Jan. 4.
Victor Saulsbury, a lifelong D.C. area resident who worked for 30 years as a financial analyst and writer for the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation before switching careers to become a Realtor, died Jan. 4 at the Manor Care Health Services rehabilitation center in Chevy Chase, Md., from complications associated with spinal lymphoma. He was 66.
His longtime friend, Gary Mastroddi of Philadelphia, said Saulsbury was active socially in the D.C. gay community since the 1970s and enjoyed spending time in the summer in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and Provincetown, Mass.
He said Saulsbury, an only child, was born and raised in D.C. as the son of Lewis J. Saulsbury and Dorothy Graury. He received his primary and secondary education in D.C.-area military schools.
According to Mastroddi, Saulsbury graduated cum laude from Georgetown University in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He received a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University in 1976.
After completing college he worked for the Western Union communications company before beginning work in 1974 for the FDIC as a financial analyst and author, where he wrote numerous technical papers and articles on the banking industry and banking regulation. His career at the FDIC lasted for 30 years.
An online search shows that his name appears on a wide variety of articles as a contributor on topics such as problems associated with the Savings and Loan industry and bank failures.
Mastroddi said Saulsbury retired from his job at the FDIC in 2004 and took a year off to travel before obtaining a real estate license and beginning a new career as a real estate broker at the Long & Foster realty office in Georgetown. Five years later, in 2009, he retired “for good” and, among other things, pursued his love for travel, Mastroddi said.
Italy and France, along with his favorite get-away destinations in Rehoboth Beach and Provincetown, were among the places to which he traveled in his retirement years, said Mastroddi.
Beginning in the 1970s, Saulsbury became a behind-the-scenes supporter of LGBT rights causes, assisting in fundraising efforts for LGBT groups in D.C., Philadelphia, and New York, Mastroddi said.
“He lost a lot of friends to AIDS and also helped in fundraising for AIDS organizations,” Mastroddi told the Washington Blade.
Mastroddi said Saulsbury cared for his mother, his only surviving relative, until she passed away in 2014.
He said Saulsbury lived in a house he bought in 1974 on Corcoran Street, N.W. until he sold the house in 2009 and moved into an apartment in the Crystal City section of Arlington where he remained until he became ill last year following a diagnosis of lymphoma of the spinal cord.
Mastroddi said Saulsbury underwent complicated spinal surgery last September and was admitted to the Manor Care rehabilitation facility in Chevy Chase in October, but complications related to the cancer and its treatment took its toll on him. A short time later he was transferred to a hospice unit at the Manor Care facility.
“He was witty and intelligent and he was an amazing writer,” said Mastroddi in commenting on Saulsbury from the many years Mastroddi and his and partner, Ettore Mastroddi, have known him.
“He said I am fine with moving on. I’m tired,” Gary Mastroddi quoted Saulsbury as saying a short time before his passing. “But he said we had a wonderful life. I enjoyed every moment of it.”
Mastroddi said Saulsbury is survived by many friends in D.C., Rehoboth Beach, and Philadelphia, among other places, including Mastroddi and his partner and longtime D.C. gay activists Paul Kuntzler and Richard Maulsby.
Plans for what Mastroddi said would be an informal memorial service among friends, in accordance with Saulsbury’s wishes, would be announced sometime soon.
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony

The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)


























District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade

WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.

Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.

2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)










