John Borek One of the final acts of John Borek, one of many acts of his life, was to send 5-foot-tall cardboard cutouts of chocolate rabbits to friends in celebration of Easter, one of his favorite holidays.
Borek, a man of many hats known for his zany theatrics and serious commitment to the Rochester arts and cultural scene, died Saturday. He was 71 and had been ill with leukemia.
He was many things to many people in the city.
There were his 15 years as a legislative aide to former City Councilman Adam McFadden. In February, the City Council proclaimed Feb. 16 as “John W. Borek Day,” celebrating “a life story greater than the sum of all its chapters.”
An arts advocacy group has accused Mayor Lovely Warren of misrepresenting an outdoor mural of Daniel Prude pictured in promotional materials that complemented her recent State of the City address, in which she pledged to foster “a bold new era of public art.” The group, Roc Arts United, wrote in a letter dated Jan. 25 that, according to the artists who created the mural, their work was “a direct response to the city of Rochester’s involvement in Mr. Prude’s death.” “The city’s use of these images re-contextualizes the artworks and misrepresents the artists’ intentions,” the letter read. “We strongly condemn the mis-use of these artworks in this manner.”