In Memoriam
Alvin Jerome Baltrop
1952–2004
By Charles W. Leslie

The great photo-documentarist, Alvin Baltrop died on February 1st after a long struggle with acute diabetes and cancer. A big handsome black man who wore striking afro-inspired outfits, Alvin was a resident of the East Village for over 30 years.

Alvin grew up tough in the Bronx and sometimes with relatives in klan dominated towns in the South. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1971 and returned to New York where he found the two great vocations of his life. Having come out at 14 with no help or understanding from anyone, he grew to maturity with a passionate sense of compassion for abandoned, lost, throw-away gay kids. He became a helper, protector, defender, and all around father figure to countless young people, both gay and lesbian.

His other great calling was photography and his recording of the “the Piers” throughout the 70s–the young sexual outlaws, the beauty, the violence, the tragedies — constitutes one of the great, unsung visual documents of our time. He was preceded in death by his lover of 16 years, Mark, who died of AIDS in 1996.