'He Helped Everyone': Bed-Stuy Mourns Local Legend, Bakery Owner

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Lloyd Cornelious Porter never failed to be there for his Bed-Stuy friends and neighbors — and it breaks their hearts that coronavirus kept them from his bedside as he passed away from the virus.

Heartfelt tributes to Porter haven't stopped pouring in since he died Wednesday. They won't stop because he never did, whether through his beloved Bread-Stuy and BreadLove shops, impromptu street dance parties and barbecues or his bottomless generosity.

Everyone in the neighborhood has a Lloyd story, said his friend Leticia Greene.

"He was one of those people who helped to build that magic village," she said. "He will be sorely missed."

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Here's one of Greene's Lloyd stories — it's how she and her husband ended up in Bed-Stuy 16 years ago.

Greene said they planned to move and looked at places in Park Slope and Fort Greene. But those options melted away when they visited Porter's Bread-Stuy coffee shop.

"As soon as we walked through the door (Porter) said, 'Hey, some new faces. Welcome,'" she said.

Porter passed out freshly baked goods and, within five minutes, was sitting talking to them, Greene said.

The conversation and generosity sealed the deal. They ended up moving across the street on Lewis Avenue and becoming close friends with Porter and his wife Hillary.

"He was warm, funny, sincere," Greene said. "He was everything that you want to find in a community, in a store and a person."

Bread-Stuy closed about a decade ago, but warm memories remain in the neighborhood.

People, after Porter's death, posted that they met their closest friends at the shop or that it was "one of the first places that felt like a truly safe space to write."

Porter and his wife Hillary opened up another shop, Bread Love on Patchen Avenue and Macon Street, which persevered through a fire and continued its predecessor's tradition.

All the while, Porter stayed Porter — leaving a mark on everyone he met, even his co-stars in commercials. (Yes, he was an actor too.)

Here's another one of Greene's Lloyd stories.

Their families became close — Lloyd and Hillary even attended Greene's wedding in the Dominican Republic. When it came time for Greene's baby shower, unbeknownst to her the venue had its power shut off for non-payment.

So Porter helped save the day. He and Greene's husband quietly ran an extension cord from Porter's coffee shop to the venue so the shower could have power. They lit candles too. Greene, who loves candles, showed up and exclaimed they thought of everything.

"Two years later I found out it was because they had no electricity," she said with a laugh.

Bed-Stuy was Porter's village and family, but he was an adopted son. He originally hailed from California, where he attended college and theater school.

Greene said the Porters planned to return to California this summer. It seemed like a loss, but a greater one was yet to come.

Porter fell ill with the new coronavirus about a month after the virus started to devastate entire swaths of New York City. It took a particularly steep toll in communities of color like Bed-Stuy.

Eventually, Porter had to be hospitalized. His family, friends and community couldn't visit his bedside for fear of further spreading the virus.

That was the cruelest part.

"Covid steals so much from you," Greene said. "It steals the thing that is so basic to us, and that is touch.

"My friend who people loved, my brother, should have never died in a hospital alone."

But, in a way, Porter had another trick up his sleeve — another extension cord to save the day. They paid tribute to him online and formed connections.

On Wednesday evening, they walked past Porter's home in a memorial, practicing social distancing out of recognition for what took him too soon.

And Greene set up a GoFundMe for Hillary and Porter's daughter MacLemore. She wants MacLemore to remember 10 years from now, or however many years, that her father left a legacy in Bed-Stuy.

"He helped everyone," Greene said. "Now is our chance to try to help them."

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