[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 55 (Tuesday, April 27, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E653]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING THE LATE KEITH CYLAR

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 27, 2004

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the late Keith 
Cylar, a fearless, passionate and extraordinarily effective advocate 
for persons with AIDS. Keith Cylar dedicated his life to the health and 
well-being of the most underprivileged and neglected elements of our 
society, and his passing at the age of 45 is a terrible loss to the 
city of New York and indeed to the entire Nation.
  A social worker by training, Keith Cylar was the co-founder and co-
President of Housing Works, one of the largest and most prominent non-
profit organizations in the Nation dedicated to helping persons with 
AIDS. Through his leadership at Housing Works, Mr. Cylar helped to find 
housing for 15,000 New Yorkers. He also oversaw and managed the 
delivery of social services, such as job training and health care 
referrals, to thousands of our most underprivileged citizens, who often 
had few other resources upon which to draw.
  Keith Cylar was also a leader of uncommon courage, an advocate who 
never hesitated to speak truth to power. Out of the fiery passions that 
drove the AIDS activist group ACT-UP, he and his partner Charles King 
forged a new kind of social service agency, one managed and operated by 
people who themselves were battling AIDS and HIV. Ultimately Keith 
Cylar helped transform Housing Works into one of the Nation's premier 
agencies providing housing to those afflicted by the AIDS epidemic. He 
accomplished this with caring and compassion, balancing a practical 
business acumen with a passionate advocacy that sometimes could be 
confrontational and uncomfortable for elected officials and bureaucrats 
alike. Indeed, because of the many demonstrations to protect City 
funding for programs serving people with AIDS that were organized in 
part by Housing Works, part of Park Row by New York's City Hall is 
still officially recognized to this day as ``People with AIDS Way.'' 
Passionate and uncompromising in his advocacy for the underprivileged 
and afflicted, Keith Cylar never wavered from his mission or failed to 
deliver for the clients who counted on him and Housing Works.
  Because of his notable achievements on behalf of those battling 
disease and poverty and his indomitable and distinctive presence, Keith 
Cylar's spirit and determination have inspired us all. I ask my 
colleagues to join me in saluting his remarkable life and career, and 
recognizing him as a great American.

                          ____________________