By any measure, 2020 was a rough year. Amidst political, racial and economic unrest, the COVID-19 pandemic hit; to date, it has claimed the lives of more than 340,000 Americans.
Countless members of the HIV community have been lost to the novel coronavirus. This is not surprising as data shows that people of color, the elderly, people with other health conditions and people with immune systems are at greatest risk for serious illness and death. This means that COVID-19 often strikes at the heart of the HIV community, especially its elders and leaders. (About half of people living with HIV in the United States are 50 or older; that figure is expected to reach 70% within a decade.)
COVID-19 revealed the toll on the HIV community early in the year; a June POZ magazine featured a release dedicated to seven AIDS leaders who died of complications from the new coronavirus (listed below). But coronavirus to one side, 2020 was a devastating year for the HIV community, which bade farewell to many advocates, researchers and friends.
HIV microbiologist and researcher Frank Plummer, MDCourtesy of the University of Manitoba, Canada
Below is a summary of obituaries marked during the year, listed in chronological order; click on the person’s name to link to the original text. Pictures are included in the slide show above. Sadly, this is not a definitive list. Certainly, there are many others we did not know about. Please visit the comments section to remember anyone you knew who died this year.
Frank Plummer
This microbiologist was a leading researcher of influenza HIV, SARS, Ebola and H1N1. In the past few years, he has made headlines as a willing guinea pig that has undergone experimental brain surgery to treat his alcoholism. He was 67 and died February 4 of a heart attack.
Terrence McNally
As one of Broadway’s greatest playwrights, he wrote the 1994 play AIDS Love! Valor! Sympathy!, which won a Tony award for best play, among many other goals. McNally was also the founder of Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS, which raises money for HIV causes. He was 81 and died of complications from COVID-19.
Lorena Borjas
This loving Latinx transgender activist ran HIV testing and syringe exchange programs for people taking hormones. A loving New Yorker, she took her appeal to the streets, helping change police policies toward trans people and sex workers. She was 60 and died of complications from COVID-19.
Gita Ramjee, PhD
A true global leader, she grew up in Uganda and India but also lived in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Ramjee earned his PhD in pediatricians and was passionate about HIV prevention for women and girls and worked to expand access to treatment. She was 63 and died on March 31 of complications from COVID-19.
Garry Bowie
As an HIV activist and nonprofit leader, he most recently led the West Hollywood AIDS group AIDS Being Alive. He was 59 and died on April 7 of complications from COVID-19.
Deloris Dockrey
HIV positive since 1994, she was a firefighter for other women living with HIV and worked at the Hyacinth Clinic in Newark, for 15 years. She died on April 27 of complications from COVID-19.
Ed Shaw
A long-time activist who lived with HIV for just over 30 years, he appealed for those who are getting older with HIV. He was in his late 70s and died of complications from COVID-19.
August “Buzz” Pusateri
Advanced HIV from at least 1982 and a long-time LGBT trailblazer, he participated in the Pitt Men Study, an long-running AIDS research project. He was 81 and died May 4; no cause of death was pronounced.
Nita Pippins
She moved to New York in 1987 to care for a dying son. She lived in Manhattan and devoted herself to caring and guiding others in the same situation, helping to establish Miracle House and becoming the mother of many AIDS sufferers. She was 93 and died on Mother’s Day of complications from COVID-19.
Larry Kramer
The author, advocate and accountant of GMHC and ACT UP was an icon for the HIV community. Long-lived, he was a frequent subject of POZ magazine coverage and reappeared in 2020 in a magazine dedicated to his legacy. POZ founder Sean Strub wrote the cover story, “Remembering the Passion of Larry Kramer,” while POZ Spotlight put together a collection of social media posts with activists and celebrities who responded to his death, and the POZ Planet column Titled “Pages of Larry Kramer” Examining the author’s essays, plays, books and films, in particular Fagots and The Normal Heart. Kramer died May 27 of pneumonia at the age of 84 after several health challenges.
Ron Simmons, PhD
As a community and academic leader, he empowered black gay men and led the DC-based HIV activist who helps us. He died May 28 at the age of 70. Prostate cancer was the cause of death.
Flossie Wong-Staal, PhD
As a molecular biologist, she made important HIV traces. In particular, she was the first to clone HIV and helped prove that the virus causes AIDS. She was also famous for her research in cancer genetics. She died July 8 at the age of 73 of non-coronary influenza-related flu.
Patrick Stinner
For more than two decades the HIV educator and ACT UP activist helped thousands of clients at the Grady Health System’s Ponce de Leon Center in Atlanta. He was 55 and died on August 16 of a heart attack.
Elizabeth Owens
A former heroin user who once lived on the streets, she changed to a VOCAL-NY activist and “Force of Joy” who supported New Yorkers under the impact of housing insecurity, drugs, HIV and hepatitis. The age and cause of her death were not announced.
Leanza Cornett
She dominated national attention as Miss America 1993, a talented and heroic beauty who knew no controversy and spoke publicly about HIV and safe sex. She died on October 28 after suffering a head injury during a fall. She was 49.
Frederick Weston
The brilliant artist, poet and performer explored queerness in his work and was also an active member of the Visual AIDS family. He died Oct. 21 at the age of 73 complications from bladder cancer.
Joyce Wallace, MD
As one of the first doctors in New York City to care for people with AIDS, she also remembers being a supporter of female sex workers. She died on October 14 of a heart attack. She was 79.
Timothy Ray Brown
Renowned for being the first to be treated with HIV, he was known for many years as a Berlin patient for anonymous protection. Brown tested positive for HIV in 1995 and was diagnosed with unrelated leukemia in 2006. A rare bone marrow transplant for cancer treatment also treated his HIV before 2008. Three years later, he went to public, inspiring many in the community. You can read a lot of value on social media; a number of posts are collected in this POZ Spotlight. He was 54 and died on September 29 after battling relapsing leukemia.