Gay Partners Of Over 60 Years Die Within Two Weeks Of One Another

It’s a classic New York City love story: a ballet dancer meets an actor/photographer, they fall in love, and move in together. But in this case, it was nearly sixty years later till they could get legally married, because they were gay men.

The dancer was Shaun O’Brien, who died on February 23 in Saratoga Springs, NY. The photog was Cris Alexander, O’Brien’s partner and husband who died March 7, just two weeks later.

Writes the New York Times:

When same-sex marriage became legal in New York last year, [Cris Alexander] married Shaun O’Brien, the celebrated character dancer with the New York City Ballet. They had been together for more than 60 years and died less than two weeks apart… “If there is a cause of death, it’s a broken heart,” his friend Jane Klain said in confirming Mr. Alexander’s death. “It’s as simple as that.”

While their deaths are certainly tragic, reading their obituaries shows they lived very full lives. And it seems that they had an ample share of their golden years together, both having retired in the 90’s to a Victorian mansion in beautiful Saratoga Springs.