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NEW YORK, NY May 09, 2008 —Walk up Park Slope's Seventh Avenue - between 11th and 12th Streets - and you'll pass a makeshift memorial. Bouquets of flowers surround a photo of an older man with a creased face and bright blue eyes. 64-year-old "Whitey," a beloved local character, died last month.

WNYC's Kathleen Horan has this remembrance.

John Glendenning got the nickname "Whitey" because of his trademark blonde hair as a kid. And he was famous enough on these streets where he was raised to go by the one name.

Any day of the week, you'd find Whitey on his 7th Avenue perch, sitting next to Naidre's coffee shop and addressing passers by. His permanent spot was outside of lifelong friend Janice Orroyo's building.

ORROYO: Everyone was a sweetie, honey babe, sugar - he gave everyone a nickname.

REPORTER: Whitey was a recovering addict, he had lived on the streets for awhile and been locked up several times before he got clean.

Since then, the tall lanky man was often employed by local shopkeepers and landlords to perform odd jobs like sweeping or making sure double-parked cars weren't ticketed. Then he got sick with cancer.

Orroyo said Whitey was afraid of dying alone because he had no family ties and being buried in a potter's field

Whitey would probably be shocked about the effect he had on the neighborhood. Two hundred signatures were collected so a plaque declaring him the "Governor of 12th Street" can be hung on the sign there. And Tom Parkin saw to it that he would have a proper burial.

PARKIN: I think he deserves that. He was a friend of my father's and we're going to bury his remains along with my father. When some people die and they're older, you know, they get to be forgotten, so we want to remember this person because he was a fixture in our life for many, many years.

REPORTER: The funeral for Whitey will be held next Saturday at Greenwood cemetery.

For WNYC, I'm Kathleen Horan.