Michael Alan Ramey, born August 2, 1938, in Washington. DC, died peacefully, as he wished, on June 12, 2026, in Seattle, after voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED), supported by loving friends and the wonderful people at A Sacred Passing.

Mike lived by the philosophy of “tikkun olam,” a Hebrew phrase that means “repairing the world” through social justice and ethical behavior. Mike’s advocacy for social justice extended in many directions. He took a studied approach and worked to find merit in viewpoints that contrasted with his own.

Mike arrived in Seattle in 1964, after four years in the United States Air Force. In 1967, he joined the Dorian Society, a Gay rights organization, and he helped print the first edition of the Dorian Columns newsletter. He worked for Gay liberation in the 1960s and participated in the rise of political power of the Gay community. He attended parties where politicians were invited to hear the civil rights concerns of Queers and receive handwritten checks supporting their campaigns. Leaders like Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman became strong political allies through such campaigns. 

In the 1970s, Mike fought the anti-Gay Proposition 13 by signing up voters in Gay bars with a clipboard and flashlight. 

In 1984, Mike and a few others were instrumental in founding Adult Children of Alcoholics in the Seattle area. Mike printed thousands of schedules and helped deliver them to meetings all over the region. Ever the stickler for detail and process, Mike made sure that the meetings were run without crosstalk and followed the guidelines.

Mike also lived through the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and ‘90s. When his partner Tom Smith was succumbing to the disease in 2003, Mike experienced the love and support of members of the Lesbian community, who stepped in and helped Tom escape the horror of the disease and end his life on his own terms. Mike viewed this support as a bond with the women’s community that could never be broken and a debt that could never be repaid. 

In the years that followed, he witnessed the expanding alphabet of the Queer community reorganize and grow to recognize more of our members. Just days before he died, Mike made his final political contribution to Trans Pride Seattle. 

In recent years Mike could be found at every No Kings event, marching in frigid rain at the third event. He stopped for hot soup on the way home and called a friend from the restaurant, saying, “I’m goddamned cold, but the march was wonderful.”. He also printed and handed out thousands of signs. 

For months, Mike protested at Tesla Takedown Tuesdays. Standing in front of Tesla on Westlake Avenue while passing cars honked, he held onto his three-wheeled walker with his No Kings placard attached. (Under this pressure, Tesla abandoned the location.) 

Seattle’s Madison Market Central Coop was a daily stop for Mike. The staff was an important and kind community for him, and he believed in their mission. He was member 808 and always rounded up his purchase total for the food bank. At the register, he was known as “808 round up.” He also monitored the condiment station and wrote letters to the management about the napkin holder —attempting to stabilize himself with one hand on his walker while trying to pull out an upside-down napkin with the other was a “real pain in the ass,” he said. But the ice cream selection was amazing, and the soups kept him nourished.

Since 2008, Mike enjoyed senior living at Capitol Hill’s Council House. He watched the sun come up from his 12th-floor apartment window and marveled at his good fortune to live where he did and as he wished: an openly Gay man and vibrant part of the community. He offered his computer skills to neighbors and kept packages moving in the mail room. He believed that the tiny address labels were an injustice to aging eyes and did what he could to correct it by pulling out his marker and writing the apartment numbers in large script. He was grateful for the staff at Council House and enjoyed the friendship of many of his neighbors.

As he neared the end, Mike laughed to a friend that he did his best at tikkun olam but said, “I’m leaving you a world of upside-down napkins.”

At just short of 88 years of age and having survived prostate cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and skin cancer, his body was giving out. He could no longer stand on his own. He could no longer march, but as he told a friend, “I can still stir the pot.” 

Fittingly, he chose to end his time on Earth on his terms. Legally, ethically, and with help from loving friends, his caring doctor, and the amazing women at A Sacred Passing, Mike began VSED on June 8. In his final days, he was held in comfort and compassion. With a view of Lake Washington, he sat peacefully in the sun; birds and squirrels continued their business of life all around him while Mike let go. Mike passed peacefully on June 12.

Mike asked that his final words be remembered as: “Thank you all. It’s been a great life!” 

Editor’s note: Mike Ramey is mentioned in Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging (University of Washington Press, 2003).