Douglas Shaps, political, gay-rights activist

Douglas Shaps, 53, of Lower Merion, executive director of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee from 1997 to 2000, died of colon cancer Saturday, Oct. 22, at Keystone Hospice in Wyndmoor.

Mr. Shaps was a former official for several groups representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Shaps was a member of the national board of governors of the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy organization for those groups.

His companion, Sherard Knight, said Mr. Shaps was a member and officer of the Philadelphia Steering Committee of the campaign from 2000 to 2006 and executive director of Outfront Philadelphia, a political organization, in 2005-06.

Knight said that in the 1990s, Mr. Shaps was director of development and publications for the AIDS Coalition of Southern New Jersey and director of operations for Thrift for AIDS.

Born in Boston, Mr. Shaps earned a bachelor's degree in business from Boston University in 1979.

His father, Richard, said he worked as a manager for a Pier 1 store in Greenwich, Conn., in the 1980s and for a CompUSA store in King of Prussia in the 1990s, and was a financial analyst for the Chester Upland School District in the 2000s.

In addition to his father and companion, Mr. Shaps is survived by his stepmother, Patricia; and brothers Jonathan and Matthew. His mother, Elizabeth, died in 2004, and a brother, Thomas, died in 1991.

Services were set for noon Friday, Oct. 28, at Joseph Levine & Sons, 2611 West Chester Pike, Broomall, with burial in Haym Salomon Memorial Park in Frazer.