Jon Kest, NYC community activist, dies

Jon Kest, a longtime New York community activist whose daughter died after she was hit by a tree during superstorm Sandy, has died. He was 57.

Kest died late Wednesday in New York of cancer. The death came just weeks after daughter Jessie Streich-Kest's death.

Jon Kest was executive director of the Brooklyn-based New York Communities for Change.

Working Families Party Executive Director Dan Cantor called the death "sadness upon sadness." He also said Kest had a "backbone of steel and a quick and supple mind."

Kest is survived by his wife, their son and his brother.

Services were scheduled for Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at the United Federation of Teachers in Manhattan. A private cemetery gathering was to follow.

-- AP