The controversial executive director who wrecked an Atlanta non-profit that cared for LGBT youth and faced arrest for his actions died last month some 500 miles and three states away in Indianapolis.
Terence McPhaul, 52, died on Nov. 16 at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, which is about an hour away from Munice, Ind., where McPhaul was born.
From an online obituary published in the Star Press:
Terence graduated from Madison Heights High School in 1981, then earned a bachelor degree from both Indiana University and Tuskegee University, a masters degree from Clark-Atlanta University, in the process of completing his dissertation for his doctoral degree from Clark-Atlanta University, and was recently accepted by the Emory University law program in Atlanta, GA.
He worked for Youth Pride as an executive director and counselor.
He was a past board member of several organizations including the LGBT Advisory Board for the Atlanta Police Department, the National Mental Health Association of Georgia, Living Room Inc., and the Ryan White Planning Council of Fulton County Georgia. He had many publications in DART Global Antiretroviral Conference Journal, iUniverse, and Panther Epiphany. Terence cared about children, civil rights and social action, economic empowerment, education, health, and human rights. Terence was taught to care for the unprotected, under served , sick, and the poor, and he did an admirable job accomplishing his goals.
The obituary did not state the cause of death for McPhaul, who was buried Nov. 25 in Anderson Memorial Park outside Indianapolis. A spokesperson for St. Vincent Hospital declined to confirm McPhaul's death or provide any details. The Marion County, Ind., coroner's office said it did not investigate McPhaul's death, which is common in cases in which the cause of death is not suspicious.
Under McPhaul's leadership, YouthPride was in a downward spiral of evictions, legal problems, non-existent board members and dried up grants. And when the Georgia Voice, which chronicled most every misstep of McPhaul, last caught up with him in May, the group had completely collapsed, lost its IRS tax exemption status, was evicted from its latest home, and McPhaul faced arrest warrants for writing bad checks in the name of YouthPride.
McPhaul initially served as co-executive director of YouthPride, taking the helm of the group in 2009 after its then executive director left after allegedly accosting a female volunteer. In January 2010, McPhaul became the group's sole executive director when the other was fired during a staff shake-up and financial duress.
The once viable group, founded in 1995, spiraled into financial difficulties that it never recovered from during McPhaul's tenure, which grew increasingly contentious in recent years.
In 2013, McPhaul clung to the helm of the crumbling agency, kidnapping the brand as he quietly moved it to new locations. And when faced with media coverage of his antics, McPhaul threatened to sue, kicked a reporter out of the building and lashed out before escaping into an elevator.
McPhaul also claimed to be an author, globe-trotting therapist to the stars, chemist and TV network founder with offices in Atlanta, Beverly Hills, New York, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur.
