Long Beach Pride co-founder Bob Crow dies at 78

Bob Crow, one of the co-founders of the Long Beach Pride and long-time LGBTQ rights activist, died Thursday after a six-year battle with lung cancer. He was 78. 

"Today, the skies may seem a bit grayer as we lost not only the founder of Long Beach Pride but also a beacon of strength and inspiration in the LGBTQ+ and Long Beach community," Long Beach Pride posted on Facebook.

Crow founded the organization with Judi Doyle and Marilyn Barlow in 1983. The trio launched the city's first Pride parade a year later, a tradition that continues today. After his cancer worsened to a stage 4, the 78-year-old attended his last Pride last month.

"We spent 29 wonderful years together," his partner Tony Almeida-Crow said. He was my best friend. Although this transition is difficult, I know that he is no longer suffering or in pain. He fulfilled his purpose here on this earth, to make it a better place and I am grateful to have been by his side,"  "I'll be here next to you."

In 2018, the Consolidated Association of Pride named Crow their Person of the Year because of his work with Long Beach Pride.