Comments on: Remembering A Gentle Giant

By: Dickford Cohn

Dickford Cohn — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:25:44 +0000

Dear Columbo…thanks for your invaluable time on this subject. Your comments are puzzling though, in that my original belief was that Orin Andrus died “before Christmas”. Try as I might, I’ve not been able to obtain any official information…and no response at all from Street Sense. While “late summer” would qualify as being “before Christmas”…I have contacted several Virginia
entities with negative results. Surely, somebody knows something? It is unnerving that nobody seems to know anything

By: Columbo

Columbo — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:48:10 +0000

Thanks Valerie, appreciate the comment. The info in Street Sense on Orin was part of a larger article about remembering the deceased homeless from the last year (I’m going by memory). It wasn’t an article all about Orin, he was a small mention. All it said was (again, paraphrasing) that he had died at the corner of 11th & G late in the year (or late summer? I can’t recall). The article did note that no further details on his death were available.

I’m sorry, I wish I had more information about Orin for you all.

By: Valerie

Valerie — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:35:09 +0000

I can confirm that his last name was Andrus. We chatted about the issue when his picture and bio were featured, and he was disappointed that they had spelled it wrong (Anrus) in print. I am so, so saddened by this news! I hadn’t seen him in weeks, but I had hoped that he gone somewhere warmer for the winter. Does anyone know what happened? I wasn’t in town to purchase the 12/24/08 issue.

By: Columbo

Columbo — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:02:06 +0000

I tried calling the DC medical examiner's office this afternoon. They don't have any record of an Orin Andrus being brought in to them. I can only report what Street Sense said in their article. It's possible that instead he collapsed (or had some other emergency) on 11th & G, but later died in VA. If that's the case, I wouldn't know which VA jurisdiction to call to find out more details. For those interested in additional information, it might be worth contacting Street Sense to see what they can tell you.

By: Dickford Cohn

Dickford Cohn — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:10:27 +0000

Dear Columbo, your story was spot on, as they say. As friends and co-workers here in Key West were wondering…just where did Orin go and how is he? His former employer claims that currently no record exists of his fate in D.C. Do you or anybody else know exactly what happened to him?

By: Columbo

Columbo — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:22:46 +0000

It's very nice to see all of the kind comments about Orin. I discovered today that a Key West publication noticed our story and published their own story about Orin; for anyone interested in more information about Orin's life in Florida.

By: Dickford Cohn

Dickford Cohn — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:16:49 +0000

I formerly worked with Orin Andrus in Key West as a newspaper hawker. I am shocked and saddened by his sudden demise. One would have to go far to find a sweeter, gentler, kinder soul. He shared what little he had…and was always industrious. To clarify, Orin decided to quit his tenure with The Key West Citizen…where he’d worked for five years. He wanted/needed to move back to his “home turf”. I’ll surely miss him.

By: pqresident

pqresident — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 14:15:39 +0000

Ivory Wilson is the vendor I buy my paper from. I never spoke with Orin but did see him every once in a while. may he fare well on the other side.

I am hopeful that Mayor Fenty’s Housing First initiative will have a real impact on taking a bite out of the homeless situation in DC. I think programs like Street Sense help improve the situation also.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 11:07:15 +0000

Would often talk with Orin in his corner selling papers in Key West. If he were not talking about his grandmother, he was talking about the 60 to 70 hour week he would put in hawking papers on the street. Rumor has spread that he was terminated from the newspaper company he worked for and that’s why he fled to DC. I personally don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, that’s pretty screwed up considering the amount of hard work he put in for the company, which he himself expressed to me the hardship he had endured in the hot boiling sun. I liked the guy and am saddened by the news of his death.

By: Mike Mongo

Mike Mongo — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:01:18 +0000

Wow. This is the saddest news I have heard all year. I am crying. Let us hope he is in a better place. Genuine guy, tough gig, heart of gold.