Angelo Fuster, press secretary for Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, dies at 80

Angelo Fuster always was a charmer. As a child, this helped him to minimize punishments.

“He had a way of saying things to get out of trouble,” said his sister Hilda Chaviano, of Tampa. “Instead of punishing him, our parents wanted to smile.”

As an adult, he parlayed his charismatic personality into a long and storied career in Atlanta politics, working on campaigns with such Democratic Party heavy-hitters as President Jimmy Carter and Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, among many others.

“He was a connector. He knew everybody and was very well loved and thought of,” said Doug Teper, former Georgia state representative and close friend of Fuster’s.

Indeed, for decades he facilitated a weekly Tuesday night gathering of political aficionados at the historic Atlanta spot, Manuel’s Tavern. As a result, he quickly and fondly became known as the “Mayor of Manuel’s.”

Related Story

---

Historic Atlanta watering hole Manuel’s Tavern turns 70

August 7, 2026

Angelo Fuster died Oct. 26 while in hospice care in Decatur following a heart attack and stroke. He was 80 years old.

Although Fuster grew to love the United States and made indelible marks on Atlanta, in particular, his personal story began elsewhere. On Sept. 27, 1946, he was born in Santa Clara, Cuba, to mother Hilda Fuster and father Angel Fuster, a prominent Methodist minister who posthumously became the first Cuban bishop for the Methodist church after years of serving as the de facto bishop.

The increasingly volatile political climate at the time forced his parents to send their two children (Angelo and sister Hilda) to live with friends in Miami when Fuster was only 14 years old.

“Our parents wanted us out of Cuba because they knew very well what was going to be happening there,” said Hilda Chaviano. In Miami, he honed a love of music, becoming a proficient guitar, piano and contrabass player. “He also had a lovely singing voice. When we got together we’d end up at the piano singing duets,” Chaviano said.

He later went on to participate in the theater group at Florida Southern College, where he graduated with a degree in English, and performed with multiple musical groups throughout his lifetime, including The Foreigners Three and The Rainbeaux Trio.

There is little doubt that his beginnings in a politically charged Cuba led to his involvement in Atlanta politics, said his niece Dina Chaviano, of Tampa. Although longtime Atlantans might know him from the many campaigns and administrations he worked on, Fuster is probably most recognizable as the spokesperson for the city during the Atlanta missing and murdered children crisis of 1979-1981.

In the early 1970s, Fuster became a regular patron of Manuel’s Tavern, developing a lifelong friendship with the late owner, Manuel Maloof. He was especially present on Tuesday evenings when he and the rest of the “Government in Exile” (GIE) group met to share stories and socialize.

The group originally began as a way for Maynard Jackson’s former staff to stay connected, but grew over the years to include an impressive informal roster of political consultants, lobbyists, campaign workers, journalists and more.

Over the years, Fuster coordinated security and communications for countless political events held at the tavern, including visits from Democratic presidential nominees like Bill Clinton and Al Gore, as well as election night parties that were covered widely by national media.

“Manuel trusted Angelo very much,” Teper said. “He relied on him to coordinate the show when there was an event.”

His love of Manuel’s extended farther than political events, however. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to shutter the Atlanta institution, Fuster launched a GoFundMe campaign that surpassed its fundraising goal in the first 24 hours. Today, Atlantans have Fuster to thank for spearheading the initiative that kept the establishment’s doors open.

So synonymous with Manuel’s was Fuster that the urn containing his ashes will be kept at the tavern alongside Manuel’s and other family and longtime employees.