Out.com founder Jeffrey Newman dies less than a week after partner's death

Jeffrey Newman, the founding president of Out.Com, has died, his family confirmed to The New York Times. He passed away four days after long-time partner Jayson Conner died from a heart attack. Newman was 58. Conner was 48.The Queens couple was best known in recent years as the founders of Backpacks For The Streets, a grassroots organization providing direct assistance, including food, essentials, employment, health care and housing, to people experiencing homelessness.Related: Meet the Gay Couple Helping NYC's Homeless Population in the PandemicNewman had lived in New York since 1997, when he moved to the city to work first as a senior editor with ABCNews.com and TheStreet.com. A year later, he launched Out.com, one of the first digital outlets focused on LGBTQ+ news. During his first year leading Out.com and GFN.com, Newman saw traffic double and expanded the staff from four to 40 people. He served as president and CEO of both outlets until early 2001.During his time at Out.com, Newman made history by overseeing the first livestream of a gay wedding for an audience of more than 1 million, an event that later inspired an episode of “Will & Grace,” according to his official biography.After leaving Out.com, Newman oversaw a restructuring of Spa Finder, then a travel and media company. As chief operating officer, he helped increase the company’s revenue from $4 million to $10 million in his first year and to $16 million within two years. In 2005, he founded Jeffrey Newman Consulting and focused on business development, fundraising, grant proposals and marketing.Newman and Conner launched the nonprofit Together Helping Others in 2018. Its Backpacks for the Streets project initially served New York City’s homeless population. The effort grew from the couple distributing a few armfuls of backpacks filled with items such as Slim Jims, flashlights, and wool socks to operating a network of 40 volunteers that distributed 180,000 packs annually.“We take what we do v