Steven Mark Englander, longtime director of the historic Lower East Side artist squat-turned-nonprofit ABC No Rio, died on December 12 in Manhattan at the age of 63 from complications related to a rare lung disease that he had been battling for over a decade. Among other achievements, Englander was known for leading ABC No Rio’s fundraising campaign to secure its property for a dollar after decades of eviction threats from city officials.
The news of Englander’s death was announced by the organization, which stated that he passed away “comfortable, pain-free, and surrounded by the two things he lived for — his family and the ABC No Rio community.”
Born on June 11, 1961, in Chicago, Englander grew up in Racine, Wisconsin. He moved to New York City in 1980 to study film at New York University and quickly became involved with groups like the Black Eye zine, the Libertarian Book Club, and the Anarchist Switchboard. He was introduced to ABC No Rio in 1987 through Matthew Courtney’s Wide-Open Cabaret performances, where he would “occasionally take the mic to give voice to his anarchist writings and musings,” Gavin Marcus, the nonprofit’s new director, told Hyperallergic.
Known for his collaborative spirit, fairness, and honesty, Englander served as the arts collective’s director twice — first in a temporary stint in 1990 when then-Director Lou Ancierno left for Hamburg, Germany, with other ABC No Rio members to mount the exhibition 10 Years, Seven Days at Künstlerhaus in commemoration of the group’s 10th anniversary. The role evolved into a co-directorship alongside Ancierno that lasted until 1991, when Englander resigned over leadership disagreements. In 1994, when ABC No Rio was facing increasing threats of eviction from city officials, he stepped into the leadership position once more.
“When [ABC No Rio] called an emergency meeting, Fly urged me to attend as I was familiar with No Rio’s history with The City as well as squatting and political organizing,” Englander said in a January 2011 interview with comic book artist and ABC No Rio member Fly (Elen Orr).
In 1995, Englander met his life partner, ABC No Rio activist, writer, and photographer Victoria Law. They were serving on the collective’s board when they got the opportunity from the city to purchase the 156 Rivington Street tenement building property for a dollar, provided that they could raise the funds for the renovation costs. He became ABC No Rio’s sole paid staff member in 1997, spearheading the group’s fundraising efforts from his office desk in a passageway between the computer lab and silkscreen print shops on the building’s top floor, which was “always buzzing with people coming in and out,” Law told Hyperallergic.
“People would come upstairs to use the bathroom and they’d stop and say hi to him, or sometimes random people would wander in and be like, ‘What is this building?’” Law recalled, describing Englander as someone who “thrived in that collective environment.”
Comic book artist and squatter rights activist Seth Tobocman, who met Englander in the mid-1990s during an uncertain time for the group and its Rivington address, told Hyperallergic that he was “very impressed with the number of different people who came together to defend ABC No Rio.” He attributed the group’s success in obtaining the rights to the property to Englander’s organizing skills and his “ability to reach out to different people and make them feel respected and included and listened to.”
When ABC No Rio was finally forced to vacate the deteriorating space in 2016, Englander’s role changed as its various facilities, including the zine library, silkscreen studio, and exhibition space, became scattered across the city’s boroughs.
“He was still the director, but doing things in exile is not the same as being in the midst of people coming in and out, volunteers using the facilities, random people who are like, ‘What is this weird building with the door unlocked and all this weird art all over the place?’” Law said.
Even as his health deteriorated over the past year, Englander continued to work to bring back ABC No Rio’s physical space until his final days. At the end of August, construction finally began on the group’s long-anticipated four-story building, which is slated to partly open in mid-2026.
“I think that’s a testament to his willpower … and he held on long enough for that groundbreaking to happen, to keep going. This was his life’s work,” Law said.
Englander is survived by two brothers, a sister, and his daughter.
