Local News
Frank A. Ribaudo helped build the Back Bay venue into a hub for Boston’s LGBTQ+ community and HIV/AIDS advocacy.
Club Café manager James Morgrage (left) and founder and vice president Frank A. Ribaudo (right) Club Café
The founder and vice president of iconic LGBTQ+ venue Club Café, Frank A. Ribaudo, died Tuesday after a two-and-a-half-year battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer, his husband announced on social media.
“Frank touched so many lives through Club Cafe and for just being who he was … so pure of heart,” Joe Paso, Ribaudo’s husband of over 25 years, said in an Instagram post. “For me he was the love of my life. I will treasure all that we’ve done together and for the beautiful life we shared.”
Paso said Ribaudo chose to stop treatment and received hospice care at home in his final days.
“I was with him alone in our beautiful home as I spoke and sang to him,” Paso said. “I am grateful to have had that moment.”
For more than four decades, Ribaudo helped shape Boston’s LGBTQ+ community through Club Café, turning the South End venue into a gathering place for dining, fundraising, and advocacy, the establishment said in a Facebook post.
“Our community — and indeed our world — is a better place because of Frank,” the venue said.
Ribaudo and his friends established an LGBTQ+ gym in 1983 after experiencing harassment and discrimination at another fitness center just down the street from where Club Café now stands at 209 Columbus Ave. They later opened Club Café as a place where members could gather after workouts, according to the venue.
“In the mid-1980s, when a new disease — later known as HIV/AIDS — ravaged our community, Frank opened our doors for community dinners, fundraisers, and meetings to mobilize and change public policy,” Club Café said. “He never wavered in his commitment to supporting those living with HIV/AIDS.”
Ribaudo helped found the Harbor to the Bay AIDS Benefit Bike Ride with a friend, Michael Tye, in 2003 and spent 22 years serving as treasurer, crew member, and organizer, according to Club Café.
The venue said he also organized community dinners that brought together people living with HIV and AIDS to share information about programs and therapies.
Beyond HIV and AIDS advocacy, Ribaudo championed LGBTQ+ athletics and community organizations. Club Café said he established the venue’s Community Support Fund, which uses money raised through recycling and coat checks to sponsor LGBTQ+ sports.
In its tribute, Club Café described Ribaudo as “strong, determined, and courageous to the very end” and a “true champion for the LGBTQ+ community.”
A celebration of Ribaudo’s life will be held at Club Café at a later date, according to the venue.
“Because of Frank’s vision and steadfast leadership, Club Café remains a safe and welcoming space for all — a place to relax, enjoy good food and entertainment, and come together as a community,” Club Café said. “We continue to give back and work to make the lives of all in our community stronger and better, just as Frank envisioned.”
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