I am trying to discover if Ed Stancik the former Special Investigator
for the New York City Schools who died last year was actually a death
from AIDS even though it was reported as heart failure. Can someone
get the information from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta for
me? The answer must be correct for I'd like to get it published for
our teachers' union.  Ed
Stancik was a man almost obsessed with the idea that children were
being sexually abused by teachers and he created a defacto Witch Hunt
atmosphere in the New York City Public Schools.  It would be helpful
to us if we learned he died of AIDS and not heart failure as was
claimed. He was only 47 when he died and was a highly educated single
white Catholic male living in New York City. Enough said.  I think
this is a fair question as he was a public figure and his work
impacted on the lives of many.

---

Request for Question Clarification by missy-ga on 18 Nov 2002 20:40 PST

Hi there,

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta do not keep records of
cause of death for individuals.

To ascertain his cause of death, you'll need to get a copy of his
death certificate, which is a matter of public record.  Will
instructions for doing this meet your needs?


--Missy

Hello Explorer69,

Based on your comment below, that you want to know the real truth
about Mr. Stancik's cause of death, it would seem that getting a copy
of his death certificate would meet your needs.  A death certificate
is, in fact, the only way to know for certain why someone died - it's
an official record, and falsification of death certificates is a crime
in the State of New York.

To obtain a copy of Mr. Stancik's death certificate, you'll need to
write a letter to the New York City  Department of Health & Mental
Hygiene Office of Vital Records.  In your letter, include the
following:

    * Full name as listed on the certificate
    * Gender
    * Date of death
    * Place of death
    * Borough in which the death occurred
    * Purpose for which you are going to use this certificate
    * Your relationship to the deceased
    * Check or money order payable to the NYC Department of Health;
      the cost is $15 per certificate
    * Copy of your signed, valid photo identification
    * Stamped, self-addressed envelope

Mail these to:

Office of Vital Records
125 Worth Street, Box 4, Room 133
New York, NY 10013

Processing time may be between two and four weeks.

If you'd prefer to apply for a copy in person, you can print an
application and get detailed commuting instructions to the proper
office here:

NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
Office of Vital Records
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/vr/vrdappl.html

Good luck!

--Missy

Search terms:  [ "death certificate" New York City ]

If someone dies of AIDS, that doesn't indicate that they ran a dubious
lifestyle. Such misconceptions hurt people who must face this disease,
and because of such prejudices also sometimes hide their condition.

You don't know Ed Stancik.  I have lived in New York City for decades
and enjoy the rich diversity of all my wonderful neighbors especially
those who devote themselves to the performing and creative arts who
are often although by no means always gay.  Gay is an important part
of urban culture.  But Ed Stancik would never say that.  He was a
single Catholic white male and an attorney. He was a lector at St.
Patrick's Cathedral viewed by many gay leaders and progressive
Catholics as homophobic. He was hired by New York City to be a Special
Investigator for the New York City schools.  He took a highly
prosecutorial tone to his tasks.  As most teachers are women with
children and Master's degrees who would typically be mortified if they
had an unpaid parking ticket this hardly seemed an appropriate
paradigm! Yet. he created a reign of terror.  Since we do have 80,000
teachers some of whom have been hired at the last minute largely due
to very low salaries, high living costs and harsh working conditions
of course we have a few characters but not enough for a full time
prosecutor with a staff whose whole thrust was villifying people.

  While Mr. Stancik looked for all sorts of pecadillos both real and
imagined his forte were sexual allegations.  When he got done
Kindergarten teachers were no longer able to help little boys zipper
themselves when helping them get dressed. In short he was almost the
Roy Cohn of New York City public schools. Social psychologists have
long known that people's personal beliefs backgrounds, health,
phobias, etc. can impact their job performance. When someone is
battling a deadly illnes which they don't acknowledge and that illness
was caused from their sexual conduct that can affect their job
performance and outlook. If they themselves are accusing others of all
sorts of often untrue sexual allegations and ruining the professional
reputations of those individuals- a number of whom were themselves
gay- I think the information is relevant.

  When Mr. Stancik died we were told it was from heart failure
something we will all eventually die from if you think about it.  But
the health of an important person is often lied about as it was with
President Kennedy among others.  I would like to know the real truth. 
I hope this information makes it clear that I am not in any way
homophobic and indeed delight in all my wonderful gay neighbors,
friends, co-workers and denizens of New York. Currently I am delighted
to  share my apartment with an HIV positive, gay black man