Well-known South Florida gay journalist Bob Keckemety lost his battle with bladder and bone cancer on June 30. He was 60.
Kecskemety was known for writing only good news and worked closely with the South Florida Gay News.
“He loved doing things that showcased people in the community, putting a positive spin on nice people,” Norm Kent, publisher of South Florida Gay News, told the Miami Herald.
Friends remember the writer and videographer as a generous and kind person who was a staple at South Florida LGBT events. Bobby Blair, publisher of Florida Agenda, said he met Keckemety five years ago when both worked for the now-closed Buzz Magazine.
“He was with me the very first day I got into the publishing business in 2007,” Blair said in an interview with the Miami Herald. “He was a remarkable, passionate person trying to create news and information that would build up the LGBT community. He was always into finding good causes, and the really good people who were making a difference.”
Kecskemety was a graduate of Fort Lauderdale High School and was a travel agent before becoming a journalist. He also launched a video website, QueerChannel Network, which also has a channel on YouTube.
Ryan Dixon, 24, now QueerChannel's TV host, said Kecskemety helped him begin his career in front of the camera.
“He interviewed me. I was kind of shy, quiet. I didn't know what to say on camera.”The two became friends and eventually Kecskemety hired Dixon, even though he believed the younger man would bomb on-air.
“He said, “Ryan, I didn't think you'd make a good host. I didn't think you'd be outgoing. Then you blew me away,'”°” Dixon recalled Thursday.
A memorial service for Kecskemety will be held sometime in mid June at the Pride Center in Wilton Manors. Also, this year's 13th annual Stonewall Street Festival on June 24 in Wilton Manors will be dedicated to him, said Jason Tamanini, general manager at the Manor Complex and co-chair of the Rainbow Business Coalition.
Kecskemety was a co-founder of the Stonewall Festival and continued to write until early May. He documented his own illness for the Florida Agenda in January.
“Each year, I write a feature in the last issue of the year for whatever publication I have worked for, getting New Year's resolutions from people in the community, and though I would have liked to have gotten many more for the last week's issue of the Agenda than I did, I was too weak to continue,” Kecskemety wrote, still upbeat about the future.
“One person, who I asked for his resolution a week ago, turned the tables on me and asked me what my New Year's resolution was. I simply replied, “2013.'”
