In Memoriam: Leslie Wyche, 'Harlem's Mayor'

Community Activist Dead at 73

By Larry McShane

Leslie Wyche, a life-long Harlem resident known for years as the uptown neighborhood’s honorary mayor, passed away Thursday evening at a Bronx hospital. He was 73.

Wyche worked in the office of current state Assemblywoman Inez Dickens during her time on the City Council, and belonged to both the Omega Psi Phi fraternity and the advocacy group One Hundred Black Men, Inc.

"He really, really enjoyed people,” Dickens said.

“Practically everybody knew him, and they knew they could go up to him with a problem and he would take it to the right agency to get at the root of the issue.”

The dapper Wyche also appeared in several scenes as an extra in the movie “American Gangster,” where Denzel Washington played Harlem-based druglord Frank Lucas, said his friend Michael Garner, president of One Hundred Black Men.

“He was very socially conscious,” recalled Garner. “He gave back to the community. He was involved in politics.”

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Source: The New York Daily News (via Empire Report New York)

From The G-Man salutes Mr. Wyche's legacy and contributions to the Harlem community with the following video. May he forever rest in peace.