MD Green Party Candidate for Governor in 2006, Ed Boyd, Has Died

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:

Maria Allwine - 443.762.0892

Rob Savidge - 410.271.1099

Co-Chairs, Maryland Green Party

Ed Boyd, Former Green Party Candidate for Governor of Maryland , Dies at Age 46

Baltimore , MD , August 12, 2008 – The Maryland Green Party is saddened to announce the death of Ed (Eddie) Boyd, Green Party Candidate for Governor in 2006. Ed died on August 11, 2008 after a year-long fight against bone and lung cancer. He was 46.

Ed was a Navy veteran and a tireless advocate for peace and social justice. After military service, Ed worked with the Community for Creative Nonviolence, a homeless advocacy organization founded by homeless advocate, the late Mitch Snyder. Ed had been homeless himself, which spurred him to help others who were homeless. Before Ed moved to Baltimore , he had been living in Vermont where he began his own recovery from drug addiction and worked with homeless and drug addicted veterans.

Ed was a committed worker in the anti-war and counter-recruitement movements and was arrested in a non-violent direct action at the National Security Agency in 2006. Prior to that, Ed was with Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey , supporting her efforts to meet with George W. Bush. See the link below.

http://www.democracynow.org/2005/8/22/former_homeless_veteran_describes_how_horrors

Eddie was the Maryland Green Party's candidate for governor in 2006. His platform included reregulation of BGE, creation of a publicly owned utility, funding equity for all Maryland schools, opposition to the ICC and the death penalty, fundamental reform of our political and campaign finance systems and, above all, the freedom of all human beings to live in peace. Eddie was a tireless campaigner and never failed to impress people. Eddie talked with people, not at them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-xBTC99kbI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLCkE8C5Rck

Eddie was excluded from the Maryland Public Television gubernatorial debates. See below for links to his and his campaign staff's protest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv0ipA1z8yU

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1630251860984772078

http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2006/101606Greens.shtml

Eddie had been ill and in hospital for almost a year. He was diagnosed last July with bone cancer that had metastasized to his lungs. Eddie had complained to the VA for years of pain in his leg resulting from an accident while he was in the Navy. Even though he was very ill and in pain, Eddie never lost his smile, his intense interest in what was going on outside his life and his commitment to peace and social justice.

Maryland Green Party Co-Chair Rob Savidge, said, "Eddie exemplified what it means to be a green party member; he was active in his community, spoke up for the oppressed, empowered people to take action, and gave people a choice at the ballot. His smile and down-to-earth personality touched those around him, and made us proud to have him in our party. The struggle lives on, and so does his memory."

"Eddie went through some very rough times in his life, but he had an inner strength and beauty that outlasted everything, even cancer," said Maryland Green Party co-chair, Maria Allwine.

Excerpt from CityPaper story, "Where's the Party?" (10/24/07, E. Sullivan):

"A lot of people in Boyd's predicament would have put their political interests aside and focused on getting better. But Boyd's battle with cancer, exhausting as it has been for him, has given him intensity and focus. More than ever, he's one of America's down and out citizens--with no health care except for the VA, and no ability to pay for better treatment, he is one of millions that would
benefit from the Green Party's suggestion that the nation employ a single-payer health-care system that would provide the same quality of care to everyone, regardless of income or employment status. He sits up in bed a bit and pulls the blankets up over his chest to talk about why now, more than ever, he feels the need to promote the Green Party to anyone who will listen. Even fellow hospital patients."

Eddie Boyd, per his request, will be cremated and memorial services are being planned in Baltimore , Maryland and Myrtle Beach , South Carolina .

Donations in Eddie's name can be made to either:

Power to the People Committee
Cynthia McKinney for President;
Joan Christian, Treasurer;
P.O. Box 311759 ;
Atlanta Georgia 31131-1759

Cindy Sheehan for Congress
1260 Mission St
San Francisco , CA 94103

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