Remembering Ro Sheffe: Longtime CB1 FiDi Leader Dies at 76

Ro Sheffe, in undated photo, speaks at a public forum in his role as chair of Community Board 1's Financial District Commitee. Photo courtesy of Andrea McKenzie

Ro (Edward) Sheffe, a member of Community Board 1 from 2003 to 2016 and chair of its Financial District Committee for eight years, died of stomach cancer on Oct. 18 at his home in Toronto, where he had moved in 2023. He was 76. Below is a remembrance from his wife, Andrea McKenzie.

Ro was a lifelong adventurer. Born in California and raised in Memphis, he learned to sail in Long Island Sound when he was 10, started an (illicit) radio station on his school’s roof at 15, and at 20, explored the deserts of Africa in a beat-up car where the heater was jammed on. Drafted at the age of 19, he served with the US Navy in Spain and Morocco, where he met his “band of brothers,” fellow ex-pats and Peace Corps volunteers who became lifelong friends. His musical talent with the guitar became the talk of the capital, Rabat, and led to collaborations with other musicians and a country-wide tour promoting American folk music. Ro spent many happy hours playing songs on his beloved Martin D-35 12 string, inspired by the Vietnam War protest movement of the early 70’s.

After graduating from the University of Florida, he was a journalist, freelance writer, and photographer, covering events as varied as artist Christo’s wrapping of a Florida island in bright pink and the hazards of nuclear power plants. While still in his 20s, he was editor-in-chief of magazines such as Adventure Travel for Ziff Davis, which led to more adventures: he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, plumbed the depths of the ocean during scuba diving expeditions, and photographed the wildlife in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro volcanic crater. Later, he turned to consulting and corporate communications, travelling the world for his clients. 

Ro’s never-ending curiosity led him to join the board of directors for the Riverside Symphony and for an experimental theatre company. He was also on the founding board of directors for the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra (KCO), and to the end of his life, he loved finding new music to listen to. 

Ro moved to Manhattan in the 1980s and to the Financial District in 1993, close to the Twin Towers. His life and his trajectory were forever changed on September 11, 2001, when the Towers fell. He saw one of the planes fly into the tower and spent hours trapped in the lobby of his building before escaping across the Brooklyn Bridge with his elderly bulldog, Mister Hudson. Ro’s experiences were captured in Sarah Tufts’ play, 110 Stories, a tribute to that day and its aftermath. 

On September 25, 2001, Ro wrote to his friends, “After the terrible scene at Ground Zero, the next most heart-wrenching experience is to see the hundreds—perhaps thousands—of small businesses behind that chain-link fence shuttered and still filthy with grime. They will be closed for months. Many of those small businesses will never recover.” 

In 2003, Ro joined Community Board 1. He spent the next 13 years advocating for the Lower Manhattan community, especially the mom-and-pop stores, trying to get them grants not just after 9/11, but after Hurricane Sandy and other disasters. During his eight years as chair of the Financial District Committee, he played an active part in getting the Zadroga Bill passed, a measure that ensured free healthcare to 9/11 first responders and residents. He also stood firm for human rights, non-discrimination, and tolerance, sometimes despite death threats. When an Islamic community centre with a prayer space was proposed to be built near the World Trade Center site, but was labeled by some as the “Ground Zero mosque,” his committee, the Community Board, and Lower Manhattan as a whole were firmly in favor of the proposed building, although it was never built. 

When Ro resigned as chair of the Financial District Committee and from Community Board 1 in 2016, the Manhattan Borough President declared March 22, 2016, to be “Ro Sheffe Appreciation Day” in honor of his accomplishments to the community. The proclamation specifically mentioned, within a long list of achievements, that quality of “humanitarianism” that he had shown during all those post 9/11 years. 

When his health was impacted by his exposure to toxins during and after 9/11, Ro’s ability to travel became limited (though he still made it to Shanghai for one last wonderful trip!), but his curiosity and wit never failed him. In 2023, he left his beloved Manhattan for Toronto, Canada, to marry me, his longtime partner. He promptly joined the Annex Residents’ Association and was elected to the board of directors. 

Ro faced his final months of illness, as always, with courage, wit, and humor. Among his survivors are his nieces and nephews and a cousin, Doug Nelson. Ro will be deeply missed by so many of us. 

A celebration of Ro’s life will be announced at a future date. He wanted no flowers or inspirational messages (he preferred jokes), but donations to medical research centers, food banks, or the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra (KCO) would honor his life.