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Lloyd Cornelius Porter, a beloved entrepreneur, and actor from Bedford-Stuyvesant passed away last week at the age of 49 from complications of coronavirus. He was also the brother of singer, Gregory Porter.
Porter and his wife, Hillary, owned a bakery called Bread Stuy and later an eatery called Bread Love in the picturesque Stuyvesant Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Neighbors processed down the street where Porter lived with his wife and young daughter last Wednesday following the man’s passing. He was often called “Mr. Hooper,” a tribute to the grocer from Sesame Street.
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“You don’t get that kind of processional he got if you haven’t impacted the lives around you,” close friend Keith Arthur Bolden told BuzzFeed News. “He would hold court. People just look to him to lead, to be the pulse.”
Porter grew up in Bakersfield, California. He studied theater at Fresno State University where he also joined Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He continued to find work as a commercial actor, starring in multiple Super Bowl ads over the years. He and his wife were considering a move back to California to be close to family.
A GoFundMe set up to benefit the Porter’s young daughter, MacLemore, has raised over $75,000.
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“We are sad but Lloyd’s was a life lived with love and generosity that is deserving of celebration,” the description reads, “In (Bread Stuy), love was poured into each cup served, smiles given with each pastry, hugs, laughs, jokes and fellowship lived every corner of the shop spilling onto the sidewalks. It was on those sidewalks that we ate, drank, danced, and celebrated life and community daily.”
It ends with a description that says, “(The) Porters painted rainbows over our Bed-Stuy skies, and around the world with each person they touched… and for this reason, we will return his love and treasure his memory by supporting his family.”
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