ATLANTA — While many primarily know Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Theo from “The Cosby Show,” his friends in the Atlanta poetry world knew him as a kind man with a strong sense of self.

“I loved his vulnerability and his quiet power,” said Tamika “Georgia Me” Harper, an actor and poet.

Just nine days after the actor’s shocking death in Costa Rica from accidental drowning, Harper and her friend Bethsheba “Queen Sheba” Rem are organizing a three-hour tribute to his life at City Winery Atlanta at noon on Wednesday. Tickets are $30 to $50 at citywinery.com. All proceeds will go to Warner’s wife and daughter. Attendees are being asked to wear cocktail attire.

The celebration will feature local musicians, comics and poets.

“This will not be a sad affair,” Harper said.

Warner was active in the local poetry scene even before he moved to Atlanta in the late 2010s when he joined the Fox medical drama “The Resident.” He frequently hosted Joyce Littel’s popular annual “Passion and Poetry” and participated in Queen Sheba’s “Poetry Vs. Hip Hop” event.

Harper first met Warner in 2004 in New York City at Def Poetry Jam. They later ran into each other at the airport and exchanged numbers over a Burger King meal. “Every time he came to perform in Atlanta, he’d give me tickets or let me open for him,” she said. “Once he moved to Atlanta, it was on.”

He became a regular at Atlanta poetry and spoken word events. “He popped up many a night and developed a real relationship with our poetry community,” she said.

Queen Sheba, who teaches at Clark Atlanta University, worked with him on multiple poetry events. They would text or talk almost every day.

“We exchanged books, ideas, poems, how to do what in business,” Sheba said.

Harper said Warner’s parents kept him grounded as a child even under the unrelenting spotlight of fame. “His father put Black literature in his hands and made him learn history,” she said.” His identity wasn’t attached to his job or a character. He wanted to be a full man and that’s what his parents developed, a full Black man. That’s who we met. That’s who we knew.”

And they taught him music as well, Sheba said: “He played the trumpet, the trombone, the guitar, the bass. They wanted him to be a well-rounded artist. Period,” Sheba said.

Warner, a 2015 Grammy winner for Best Traditional R&B Performance, played bass around town for local band Biological Misfits.

And he treated everyone with respect, Harper noted, never allowing his fame or accomplishments to make anyone else feel less than.

“He had an energy that made you feel important,” Harper said.

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IF YOU GO

“Celebrating Malcolm-Jamal Warner”

Noon-3 p.m., Wednesday. $30-$50, City Winery Atlanta, Ponce City Market, 650 North Ave. NE, Atlanta. citywinery.com

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