Former Roosevelt Island Youth Program Counselor Charles Royster Passed Away Last Month At Age Of 60 - Friends And Loved Ones Petition RIOC To Honor His Legacy With Memorial Plaque At Current Youth Center

Charles Royster passed away suddenly on June 24, 2024 at 60 years of age. Mr Royster was a very important person to many in the Roosevelt Island community as a Counselor at the Roosevelt Island Youth Program (RIYP). Roosevelt Island resident Chris Montague reports:

Charles Royster, former program director for RIYP, sadly passed away a few weeks ago.

Despite the contentious relationship between RIOC and the RIYP towards the end of its program, for many growing up on the island from the late 80s through the earlier years of the 2010s, Charles was one of the main reasons why the youth center felt like a safe and fun space for kids to come and form a community.

I, on behalf of Charles's many friends and loved ones here, have started a petition to hopefully convince RIOC to honor Charles's legacy by installing a commemorative plaque at the current iteration of the youth center.

Charles was very much a warm, paternal figure, like a father or favorite uncle. He made the center a fun, safe place for the youth of Roosevelt Island to come to as a community after school. He instilled many positive values within the program members, and was someone both children and their parents alike could trust to be there as a source of support, comfort, and guidance. For many of us, he was the face of the youth center,  a superhero for many of us as exemplified in this photo of Charles.

He was dedicated to serving the youth of our community, and it feels only right that the community dedicate a memorial to him, so future generations of children who will never know what the center was like under his stewardship, will at least know of his legacy of compassion and dedication that made the center what it was for so many of us. It's a legacy that deserves to be remembered and honored, and a standard that sets the bar for what our expectations are for the center in regards to community building.

According to the Petition To Memorialize Charles Royster With A Plaque At Roosevelt Island Youth Program

If you've lived on Roosevelt Island longer than 10 years, chances are you either knew, or at least knew of, Charles Royster.

To many of us, Charles was the face of the youth center and a pillar of our community. He gave so much to us through his role at the youth center, and touched many of our lives with positivity, with kindness, with care, and with selfless service.

The current administration of the Roosevelt Island Youth Program is not the same as it was when Charles worked there. It has since been folded into the purview of RIOC, who now manages it.

Some more involved with the politics of the RIYP of old will be aware that there was some bad blood between people at RIOC and the former director of the youth center. As such, RIOC may not be inclined to honor or memorialize anything connected to that rocky past.

But we as a community should make it known that we believe Mr. Royster's legacy transcends all of that, and he deserves to be remembered as an integral pillar in the organization of the Roosevelt Island Youth Program, regardless of who is currently running it.

So please, sign this petition and make your voice heard. Let RIOC know that we would very much appreciate that they do the right thing and honor the legacy of a man who meant so very much to so many of us.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

Condolences to Mr Royster's family, friends and all who knew him.