Charles passed away peacefully at home in New York City during the early morning of November 30 surrounded by friends and family after a two-year battle with cancer. Charly, as he was best known, was an HIV activist and long-term survivor who created numerous films, photo series, and other multimedia art that focused on providing an honest and desire-driven perspective of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the gay community for over 30 years.

The youngest child of predeceased Donald and Marian Lum, formerly of Garden City, New York, he is survived by his sister, Susan, and two brothers, Peter and Christopher, as well as six niblings: Toby Slyman, Mia Lum, Josh Slyman, Christopher Lum II, Ian Creitz, and Jo Lum. He is also survived by many beloved chosen family, including but not limited to Barbie Painter, Michael “MAB” Bowles, Becky Moyer, Paul “Eggman” Wirhun, Todd Verow, Elaine Pentaleri, David “Finny” Greffenius, John Hastings, and Kelly Dopman, and was predeceased by chosen family Gary Keyes and Philly Abe.

In his early years, Charly attended the local Garden City public schools, and in the ’60s and ’70s he and his brothers attended and then worked at Camp Hawthorne in Raymond, Maine. As a young adult he earned his degree at Carleton College, in Northfield, Minnesota, which included a year at Columbia University, in New York City. Later in life he also earned a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the Art Institute of Chicago.

Charly was a New York–based artist who worked in video using documentary and cinematic narrative, photo, and performance. In life he was a career location manager and Directors Guild of America assistant director with 20 years’ experience scouting and managing feature-film and television-commercial locations across North America. Credits include Wall Street, Beat Street, CHUD, Angel Heart, Sid & Nancy, Mississippi Burning, Fatal Attraction, and commercials for most major advertisers.

Charly’s video productions are still exhibited internationally. Varied in content, most works deal confrontationally with gay sexuality ethics, how the changing realities of HIV affect culture, personal experience, and death. Programmed regularly at prominent gay film festivals, he presented work in academic lecture and a variety of art and cinema venues, including Anthology Film Archives (New York City), the British Film Institute (London), the Irish Film Institute (Dublin); the George Eastman House (Rochester, NY); Le Grand REX (Paris), the Cinema Svetozor (Prague), the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, the REDCAT at Walt Disney Hall (Los Angeles), the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Queens Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His work was also included in the 2006 AIDS Conference, at the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto.

For the past 25 years Charly spent his summers at his family home on Panther Pond in Maine across the water from his beloved summer camp. His most relished pastime was taking his boat to “the cove” near the camp to read The New York Times, swim off the boat, and watch the sunset. While visiting, he always, without fail, patronized all local church suppers and county fairs. His favorite day of the year was Woodsmen’s Field Day at the Fryeburg Fair.

Described by loved ones as “overwhelmingly generous,” Charly brought the energy and sparkle of an overly caffeinated teenager to everything he did, which left an indelible mark on all who met him. It was through this spirited giving that he was known to treat friends, family, and the children of friends to countless adventures, including concerts, movies, plays, amusement parks, trips abroad, meals, county fairs, museums, and more. He also was extremely generous of heart, caring fastidiously to his mother in Tucson, Arizona, for years, supporting friends through sickness and death, and offering constant encouragement, celebration, love, and acceptance to all. He opened his home in New York City to friends and acquaintances from all over the world to stay both when he was home and when he was traveling. Clublum, as both Charly and his Greenwich Village home were affectionately called, has always been a safe haven for queer misfits and kinky freaks from around the world.

Charly was a huge personality with a sharp intellect and was always engaging with current events, politics, and artistic trends and personalities. He loved to watch Jeopardy!, first with his mom and then, after she passed, with friends. He was a constant admirer of “his girls” Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Harry, and Jamie Lee Curtis and prominently displayed photos of them clipped from The New York Times all over his home.

To say that Charly was one of a kind is a gross understatement. New York City, Maine, and Arizona as well as film festivals in Berlin, London, Cape Town, and Tel Aviv will never be the same. The legacy of his art, his energy, his wild generosity, his playfulness, and his sparkle is engraved on the hearts of countless people who were lucky enough to love and be loved by him. He modeled bold, fiery, and unapologetic queer life for many younger people he knew. They understood that they could be their whole freaky selves because Charly unashamedly showed them how. He was a friend, an event, a deeply beloved uncle and brother, a queer elder, a protector, a ride, a damn delight. The world echoes without his gleeful giggle and mischievous suggestions. A dear friend of Charly reflects, “Whenever friends asked about him, I would always say, ‘Charly is the best friend you could ever have.’”

To honor his legacy, the family requests that any gifts be made in his memory to Visual AIDS in New York City. They are planning a memorial service this summer to be held in Raymond, Maine.

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