Ex-B.A.R. Political Editor Wayne Friday Dies

Wayne Friday, the Bay Area Reporter's former longtime political editor who was close friends with the late gay Supervisor Harvey Milk and covered San Francisco's political scene for decades in his "Our Man Friday" weekly column, has died.

Mr. Friday, who had Parkinson's disease and whose health had faltered in recent weeks, died by suicide Wednesday, October 12. He was 79.

Mr. Friday had been battling Parkinson's disease for some time, and friends said he was "despondent" over his health issues.

San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, who was informed by longtime city emergency services department Executive Director Anne Kronenberg, confirmed Mr. Friday's death.

"He was in a lot of pain," Wiener told the B.A.R. Wednesday. "He was very despondent about his health situation."

B.A.R. publisher Michael Yamashita said Mr. Friday contributed to the city's LGBT community.

"Wayne was a gay rights pioneer who played a major role in the growth of LGBT political power in San Francisco," Yamashita said. "Harvey Milk was the B.A.R.'s original political columnist. When Harvey finally won his seat on the Board of Supervisors, Wayne replaced Harvey and soon his column became essential reading in City Hall. Wayne's connections and sources guaranteed a weekly dose of political gossip, blind items, and predictions. He was a San Francisco character from the old school and I'm going to miss him."

City Attorney Dennis Herrera, a longtime friend, said he was "devastated" to learn of Mr. Friday's death.

"He was not just a legendary community leader, but an unbelievably good friend to me and countless others who relied on him for his good nature, his spice, his spirit, and his friendship," Herrera said. "Words can't express how much I'm going to miss all of that."

Herrera said he last spoke with Mr. Friday "about 10 days ago."

"I had been in touch with him regularly, and I know it was a challenging time for him, but I know he was working hard at his rehabilitation," he said. "He was one of a kind, and he's going to be sorely missed. I and a lot of other folks loved him a lot."

Mr. Friday was born November 26, 1936 in Flint, Michigan, and at the age of 18, enlisted in the Navy. During his short stint in the armed forces, he spent six months stationed in Naples, Italy at the Bureau of Naval Personnel.

Upon being discharged Mr. Friday moved to New York City. Then 21, he was hired as an over the counter stock trader at Wall Street brokerage firm Kidder, Peabody and Company. In 1970 he arranged to be transferred to the firm's San Francisco office having spent a week that July visiting the city for the first time.

He remained with the firm for a total of 15 years in order to secure a pension, then quit to take up bartending at several gay establishments on Polk Street, at the time a main LGBT neighborhood in San Francisco. He worked at now closed gay bars N'Touch and later the New Bell Saloon. In the mid 1970s he was elected the first non bar-owner president of the powerful Tavern Guild, formed by the owners of Bay Area gay bars and liquor wholesalers.

It was during that time he first became friends with Bob Ross, who co-founded the B.A.R. in 1971.

"We became close over the years. He always treated me with class and was always good to me," Mr. Friday recalled in a recent interview.

His friendship with Milk began in 1973 when the two ran into each other in the Castro one day and bonded over lunch. Mr. Friday would go on to advise Milk on his various campaigns for public office, culminating in his historic win of a supervisor seat in November 1977. The two had dinner to celebrate Mr. Friday's birthday the night prior to his assassination the morning of November 27, 1978.

Mr. Friday took over Milk's political column for the paper upon his election, though Mr. Friday admitted several of the first ones under his name Milk actually wrote. After Ross died in 2003, Mr. Friday decided to retire his column the following year.

"After he died, I really lost interest being on the paper and decided not to write again," said Mr. Friday. "During those years, though, I met a lot of really interesting people. I became personal friends with people like Dianne Feinstein."

In the 1980s Mr. Friday was hired as an investigator for the San Francisco District Attorney's office, where he worked for three decades. Former Mayors Frank Jordan and Willie Brown both appointed him to the city's police commission, a role he coveted.

More recently, Mr. Friday worked security for SHN's downtown theaters. He quit over a year ago when he first became sick.

"Over the years I made a lot of friends. I was a self-described political junkie," said Mr. Friday.

Seth Hemmelgarn and Cynthia Laird contributed to this report.