ST. PETERSBURG — Bill Rothstein married Barry, his partner of 24 years, in Toronto a couple of years ago. A handful of people, including his sister, were present. The ceremony was small, but the event was special.
"I know it meant a lot to him," said his best man, Bill Klein, 44, of Kenneth City. "It was very emotional."
Mr. Rothstein cared deeply about human rights and gay rights. Prejudice and discrimination were not abstractions to him or his partner.
When Barry had a car accident, Bill was not immediately allowed into the hospital. To make things easier, he adopted Barry's last name, thinking people would assume that they were brothers.
But the difficulties of being partners did not disappear. After Mr. Rothstein's death, Barry faced hurdles collecting the death certificate.
Mr. Rothstein had marched in the St. Pete Pride parade and contributed as a writer and photographer to Watermark, a gay and lesbian publication in Florida. He was passionate about the fight, but his interests also ran much deeper than just that one cause.
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He was born Bill Carrino in New York City and grew up in Brooklyn. During college, his studies of literature and languages took him abroad to Nancy, France. He learned French and cultivated a love of fine arts.
While working at Sotheby's auction house in New York, Mr. Rothstein fell in love with an artist. He and Barry moved to Atlanta in 1985, and then to St. Petersburg in 1989. Here, Mr. Rothstein "definitely had his finger on the pulse of the arts community," said Steve Blanchard, 31, of St. Petersburg.
Mr. Rothstein often knew about the newest gallery opening or latest buzz around the arts scene before anyone else at the Watermark, where he and Blanchard collaborated on several stories.
Blanchard said even some of his most guarded interview subjects would open up to Mr. Rothstein.
"He had the ability to make the person feel that they were the center of the universe, and that they were beautiful," Blanchard said.
Music was another gift. Any song he heard once, he could play on the piano.
He kept his iPod loaded with his favorite songs, and played tunes by Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez or Judy Collins as he tended the plants, herbs and spices in his garden. "He took great pride in the things we planted, and watching them grow," Barry said.
Mr. Rothstein, 46, died Aug. 3, at home.
>>Biography
William "Bill" Rothstein
Born: Nov. 3, 1961.
Died: Aug. 3, 2008.
Survivors: partner and husband Barry Rothstein, of St. Petersburg; parents Eugene and Eleanor Carrino, of New Jersey; sister and brother-in-law, Karen and Jack Muessig, of New Jersey; and brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Elliot and Carol Rothstein, of New York.
Donations may be made to the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast or AIDS Services Association of Pinellas County.
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