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Boston’s first liaison to gays died in obscurity

He helped many; ‘at the end, he needed a lot of help. But he couldn’t really put his hand out for it.’

By Martine Powers

 |  Globe Staff  

  May 06, 2012

Robin MacCormack had a gift for blending in. With a neat dark haircut, a winning smile, and the cachet of his Irish-Catholic surname, City Hall’s first liaison to the gay community was an ally to politicians, a buddy to police officers, and a trusted resource to the city’s gays and lesbians. But just a few years after he was appointed by Mayor Kevin H. White in 1979, MacCormack melted out of public view. And on April 6, after years without contact with family or friends, he was discovered dead by police in his Dorchester apartment with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 63.

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