Word: Phillip Rush, RIP

‘He was about community empowerment — he lived for bringing diversity to the table…That was his life.’

On April 28, longtime Atlanta community advocate Phillip Rush died suddenly from a blood clot. His nonprofit work included fund-raising for gay youth support programs and smart growth efforts. Rush was 55.

“He was about community empowerment — he lived for bringing diversity to the table…That was his life.”

— Doug Carl, Rush’s close friend, in a May 1 AJC obituary.

“What I loved about Phillip was that my impression is that he had come from privilege and for Phillip that was never an excuse not to do for other people and never, ever an excuse to stop learning. He was so interested to find out more about people, about how we relate to each other, about what might help and what won’t help.”

—Longtime activist Duncan Teague in an April 28 Southern Voice obituary.

“The power of the individual voice is much more amazing than you might think.”

—Rush in a Nov. 2, 2007 SoVo article about providing services for gay seniors.

(Courtesy of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta)