Brooklyn 'Social Justice Warrior' Luis Garden Acosta Dies

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — Luis Garden Acosta, a pioneer in community activism for Brooklyn and his Puerto Rican community, died this week, his organization El Puente announced.

Acosta, born in 1945 in Fort Greene, was the president and founder of El Puente, a community human rights organization that he started in Williamsburg in 1982. He died on Tuesday, the nonprofit said.

"(Acosta) built El Puente to teach us that to live in community, we have a responsibility to serve," the organization wrote. "May we build on his legacy."

The news of his death has sent shockwaves through the Puerto Rican, Brooklyn and activist communities that he both led and was a part of during his decades-long career as an organizer.

Acosta worked as a planner and community organizer for New York City's Office of the Mayor, a director at Greenpoint Hospital, the board president for America's first Afro-Cuban music school and was known on the radio as "America's Public Health Disc Jockey," according to a profile on the CUNY Center for Puerto Rican studies.

"Luis Garden Acosta was a tireless community activist, organizer, leader and, most of all, a friend.," Mayor Bill De Blasio said Wednesday. "He never stopped fighting for a more just and peaceful world. Chirlane and I send our most heartfelt condolences to his family, loved ones and all those he inspired."

Before beginning his career, Acosta studied at St. Mary's Seminary and Harvard Medical School. He has been published everywhere from the Fordham Law Journal, to the American Journal of Public Health.

His work focused on topics such as environmental justice, youth empowerment and advocacy for the Latin-American community.

"Last night NYC lost a hero and I lost a mentor in Luis Garden Acosta," Williamsburg Councilman Antonio Reynoso tweeted. "Thank you for revitalizing our community & paving the way for young leaders."

Acosta was also the vice chair of the Citizens Union, founding chair of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice and a leading board member of New Yorkers for Parks, Just Food, the Latino Commission on Aids, and the Research Alliance for New York City Schools, his profile said.

More recently, he was leading El Puente's development of a Latino Climate Action Network.

Photo provided by El Puente.