— Written by Pat Egan and posted here with permission.
I’m so sorry that we have lost Ken Sherrill, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Hunter College, CUNY, who died on Saturday December 2, 2023, in New York City at age 81. He is survived by his husband Gerald Otte–their partnership was more than 50 years long–as well as a loving extended family, and overlapping circles of adoring friends and colleagues too many to count.
Beginning with his appointment at CUNY in 1967 and until well after his move to emeritus status in 2008, Ken was a true pioneer in political science as an empirical scholar of the identities and political behavior of LGBTQ people. In this role he published pathbreaking research while mentoring and co-authoring with many younger political scientists, including me. The Kenneth Sherrill Prize is awarded by the American Political Science Association to recognize the best doctoral dissertation proposal for an empirical study of LGBT topics in political science (https://connect.apsanet.org/centennialcenter/grants-awards/kenneth-sherrill-prize/).
Ken was a consummate academic organizer, leader and macher, serving among other things as chair of his department and of the Hunter College Faculty Senate. Ken was also an activist and Democratic party boss, serving as New York City’s first openly gay elected official after being elected the party’s District Leader in New York’s 69th Assembly District in 1977. Ken was a tireless correspondent: for years, his listserv “KensList” was an eclectic and humorous source for news about politics, culture, and anything queer. He was a great raconteur, one of the qualities that made him a go-to source for local journalists seeking insightful and memorable quips about NYC politics.
Generous, fearless, funny, wise, and irreverent, Ken was one-of-a-kind, and this memorial note only begins to do his fantastic story justice. I will deeply miss my mentor, collaborator and sweet friend. May his life be an inspiration and his memory be a blessing for us all.