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Memorials
Diane Caves was added to a memorial wall at the CDC dedicated to agency
employees who died in the line of duty. Cates lost her life in the Jan. 12
earthquake in Haiti, where she was working to improve HIV/AIDS programs. Surgeon
General Dr. Regina Benjamin spoke, delivering to Cates' family the personal
condolence of President Barack Obama. CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden hosted the
remembrance. Atlanta Journal-Constitution , (03.02.2010)
Dennis deLeon
New York and the Nation Mourn the Loss of Dennis deLeon a Social Justice
Activist and Champion for Latinos Living with HIV/AIDS
New York, Monday, December 14, 2009 - The Latino Commission on AIDS mourns
the passing of its founder, Dennis de Leon, a tireless advocate for social
justice and one of the first openly HIV-positive Latino leaders in the
country. He was a pioneer and a visionary, and in his lifetime he sought to
curb and eliminate health disparities among marginalized communities. As a
lawyer and later a non-profit executive, deLeon believed in bridging
cultural differences to effect progressive social change.
For 15 years, de Leon was the President of the Latino Commission on AIDS, a
national service and advocacy organization addressing HIV/AIDS and health
disparities in the Latino community nationwide. In his capacity as
Commission President, de Leon served as the Manhattan delegate on the
Civilian Complaint Review Board, which reviewed police misconduct
allegations, and on several other boards, including the New York City
HIV/AIDS Planning Group, Gay Men's Health Crisis, Housing Works, and the
Federal AIDS Policy Partnership.
Prior to his tenure at the Commission, de Leon served as Chair/Commissioner
for the New York City Commission on Human Rights, where he enforced human
rights laws and increased cooperation between diverse ethnic and racial
communities. From 1988 to 1990, he was appointed Deputy Borough President
for Manhattan after six years as the city's Senior Assistant Corporation
Counsel, where he supervised civil rights law enforcement and the
representation of uniformed officers.
"Dennis' impact on the HIV epidemic will be felt for years and generations
to come. Throughout his career and as President of the Commission he
maintained that all communities of color needed to work together to address
not only the disease but injustices that made our communities more
vulnerable. His passing is cause for great sadness, but his life and legacy
are a cause for celebration, stated Ruben Medina, Latino Commission on AIDS
Board Chair." "He has touched millions of lives and made a tremendous
difference in the world. "
"It will be a challenge to pick up the mantle Dennis has left for us at the
Commission. Dennis was a friend, a mentor and an example of what a national
leader should be. He is a testament to the human spirit and the power of
perseverance. His work and his dedication to our community will not be
forgotten, "stated Guillermo Chacon, Latino Commission on AIDS President.
"Dennis was a force to be reckoned with. If there was a social justice issue
that needed to be addressed you knew you wanted Dennis on your side. His
work and his voice were respected nationwide and there was no greater
champion for Latinos living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. He will be greatly
missed," stated Ernesto Loperena, former Latino Commission on AIDS Board
Chair.
For information about funeral services and the service for Dennis deLeon,
please visit:
www.latinoaids.org or call 646-375-4415. A complete bio of
Dennis de Leon is available upon request.
About the Latino Commission on AIDS: The Latino Commission on AIDS is a
nonprofit membership organization founded in 1990 dedicated to fighting the
spread of HIV/AIDS in Latino/Hispanic communities. The Commission is the
leading national Latino AIDS organization and works in more than 40 States,
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. For more information visit
www.latinoaids.org
Unidos Podemos/United We Can
Robert P. Weemhoff
Robert P. Weemhoff, aged 49, of Wyoming, passed
away on Tuesday, October 20, 2009. He will be greatly missed by his parents,
Gordon and Jean Weemhoff; sister, Joan and Chris Laarman; nieces, nephews, and
their families; and many special friends. He enjoyed volunteering and helping
others, specifically dealing with AIDS prevention and awareness. A Memorial
service for Robert will be held on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Matthysse-Kuiper-DeGraaf
Funeral Home, 4646 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Kentwood with Pastor Dennis Gilbert
officiating. Relatives and friends may meet the family at the funeral home on
Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Grand Rapids
Red Project-Clean Works Needle Exchange program or McClees Clinic of Muskegon.
Condolences may be sent online at
www.mkdfuneralhome.com. Matthysse Kuiper DeGraaf
On Tuesday, October 20, 2009 the grand rapids Red project lost a dear friend,
a dedicated ally, and founding member to our organization. Bob Weemhoff fought
long and hard to establish our Clean Works program and has supported the Red
project over the last decade with great diligence and generosity. Last month we
hosted an evening of celebration to honor the historic work of HIV/AIDS Services
(our former name) and cast a vision for the grand rapids Red project in the
future. Bob told us he was too sick to attend the event but he knew that night
was dedicated to him, his parents and his friends - for their tireless work and
legacy of hope and healing. We and the entire HIV/AIDS community will miss Bob,
his stories, his history and passion greatly. Go in peace. The Grand Rapids Red
Project e-news (10/23/09)
On the Passing of Alice Renwrick
One of God's vibrant, strong, courageous and beautiful angel transitioned from
earth to heaven on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Her Memorial Service will be held
at Cole's Funeral Home, 2624. W Grand Blvd., Detroit on Friday, 12:30p Family
Hour, Service 1:00p.
I pray that the HIV Community will support the family at this service. My heart
is truly heavy and feel a great void. I met Alice over 6 years ago at Belle
Isle at a women's event AIDS Partnership was hosting. From that day forward we
became very good friends. As our friendship grew, I encouraged her to speak out
as so many women and mature audiences needed to hear her. She spoke in Pontiac
for her first engagement and over 125 seniors were so inspired, educated and
faced reality that it could be them. Pontiac was never the same again.
Ladies, lets remember one of her favorite lines was "How many of you ladies have
a lipstick in your purse, how may have a condom" and of course it was always
more women with lipstick. She pointed out that, "You should carry a condom like
you do Lipstick."
Please take a moment to recognize her for her work that she did and to remember
that we are all truly grateful and better because of her.
Selvy E. Hall
As a co-founder of the HIV/AIDS
Resource Center in Washtenaw County, I share in this loss that saddens our
community.
In regretting Alice’s death, we give heartfelt thanks for her life and work.
Faithfully in the struggle for abundant life,
Jim Toy MSW
We have lost one of our Positive
Perspective speakers, Alice Renwick (age 85), who suffered a stroke and had
brain surgery a little over a month ago. I went to visit her at her apartment in
Palmer Park and also took her some flowers to brighten her mood and she seemed
to be recovering well. Sadly, last evening at the SEMHAC meeting, I learned that
she had passed. I will surely miss her warm, kind, upbeat spirit, as well as,
her distinctive voice and powerful story.
Jerelle Moesley
Statement by Friends & Family of Rodger McFarlane
on his Death
It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our friend, colleague,
and hero, Rodger McFarlane. A pioneer and legend in the lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights and HIV/AIDS movements, Rodger
took his own life in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico last Friday. In a
letter found with his remains, Rodger explained that he was unwilling to
allow compounding heart and back problems to become even worse and result in
total debilitation. We know that Rodger was in a great deal of pain. Already
disabled in his own mind, he could no longer work out or do all the outdoor
activities he so loved. He was also now faced with the realization that he
could literally not travel, making employment increasingly difficult. As his
friends and family, we thought it was important that we communicate to the
world that it has lost an amazingly wonderful individual who contributed so
mightily to our humanity.
Rodger approached every aspect of his life with boundless passion and vigor.
While many people go their entire lives wanting to be good at just one
thing, Rodger excelled at virtually everything he did. Brilliant activist
and strategist, decorated veteran, accomplished athlete, best-selling
author, and humanitarian are just a few of the accolades that could be used
to describe our friend. To know Rodger was to love an irreverent,
wise-cracking Southerner who hardly completed a sentence that didn't include
some kind of four-letter expletive. He fought the right fight every day, was
intolerant of silence, and organized whole communities of people to advocate
for justice. These were traits that endeared him to us and are traits that
make his legacy incredibly rich and powerful.
The power of Rodger's many personal and professional accomplishments cannot
be denied. He was on the forefront of responding to the AIDS epidemic that
ravaged our country - and specifically the gay community - in the 1980's.
Before HIV even had a name, in 1981, Rodger set up the very first hotline
anywhere; he just set it up on his own phone. That was the Rodger we knew. A
born strategist and leader, Rodger took three organizations in their infancy
and grew each into a powerhouse in its own way, empowered to tackle this
national tragedy.
One of the original volunteers and the first paid executive director of Gay
Men's Health Crisis, the nation's first and largest provider of AIDS client
services and public education programs, Rodger increased the organization's
fundraising from a few thousand dollars to the $25 million agency it is
today. Until his death, he was the president emeritus of Bailey House, the
nation's first and largest provider of supportive housing for homeless
people with HIV.
From 1989 to 1994, he was executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights
AIDS (BC/EFA), merging two small industry-based fundraising groups into one
of America's most successful and influential AIDS fundraising and
grant-making organizations. During his tenure at BC/EFA, annual revenue
increased from less than $1 million to more than $5 million, while also
leveraging an additional $40 million annually through strategic alliances
with other funders and corporate partnerships. Rodger was also a founding
member of ACT UP - NY, the now legendary protest group responsible for
sweeping changes to public policy as well as drug treatment and delivery
processes.
Most recently, Rodger served as the executive director of the Gill
Foundation, one of the nation's largest funders of programs advocating for
LGBT equality. He transformed the Foundation by sharpening its strategic
purpose. He focused its philanthropy in the states, aligned its investment
with political imperatives and forged relationships with straight allies
that helped to further both the LGBT movement as well as the greater
progressive movement. Rodger was instrumental in the creation of the Gill
Foundation's sister organization, Gill Action. The brilliance of Rodger's
vision is being seen today as important protections for LGBT people become a
reality in more and more states.
No one will ever doubt that our friend Rodger lived a rich and complete
life. A proud U.S. Navy veteran, Rodger was a licensed nuclear engineer who
conducted strategic missions in the North Atlantic and far Arctic regions
aboard a fast attack submarine. A gifted athlete, he was a veteran of seven
over-ice expeditions to the North Pole. He also competed internationally
for many years as an elite tri-athlete, and in 1998 and 2002, competed in
the Eco-Challenges in Morocco and Fiji, where he captained an all-gay
female-majority team.
In spite of the fact that Rodger never completed college, he was an
accomplished and best-selling author and the producer of works for the
stage. Rodger was the co-author of several books, including The Complete
Bedside Companion: No Nonsense Advice on Caring for the Seriously Ill (Simon
& Schuster, 1998), and most recently, Larry Kramer's The Tragedy of Today's
Gays (Penguin, 2005). In 1993, he co-produced the Pulitzer Prize-nominated
production of Larry Kramer's The Destiny of Me, the sequel to The Normal
Heart.
Rodger had a reputation as a hard-ass. That reputation didn't do him
justice. Many of us will remember Rodger as a caregiver, a man who nursed
countless friends and family members battling cancer and AIDS. He was the
most compassionate and giving of friends, especially to those in physical or
emotional distress.
His many achievements were recognized throughout his life. Most recently, he
had received the Patient Advocacy Award from the American Psychiatric
Association. Other honors included the New York City Distinguished Service
Award, the Presidential Voluntary Action Award, the Eleanor Roosevelt Award,
and the Emery Award from the Hetrick Martin Institute, as well as Tony and
Drama Desk honors.
How do you sum up someone's life in just a few words? It's impossible and
you can't. To commemorate Rodger's life, his friends will organize
celebrations of his, the details of which are still in the planning stages.
If Rodger was anything, he was a character through and through; there are,
quite literally, thousands of "Rodger stories." That's part of what made him
such a special person. During our celebrations, we'll share some of these
stories and reflect on the many legacies left by our friend for life, Rodger
McFarlane.
Statement of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
On the Death of Martin Delaney
1/23/09
Martin Delaney, the founder and longtime director of the HIV advocacy/education
organization Project Inform, died of liver cancer at his home near San Francisco
on January 23, 2009. Mr. Delaney was 63.
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said,
“The NIAID community is deeply saddened by the death of Martin Delaney, a true
hero in the fight against HIV. Marty worked tirelessly as an advocate for
HIV-infected people, and made enormous contributions to framing and advancing
the HIV/AIDS research effort at NIAID and elsewhere. His life is a testament to
the power of committed advocacy and activism to advance public health.”
Dr. Fauci added, “I worked closely with Marty for nearly a quarter century and
will greatly miss his astute insights and advice. Many others at NIAID involved
in the HIV/AIDS research effort also have benefited from his well-informed
wisdom and counsel. The Institute and the AIDS community at large have lost an
important colleague and good friend.”
Mr. Delaney was a member of the NIAID AIDS Research Advisory Committee from 1991
to 1995, served on NIAID’s National Advisory Allergy and Infectious Disease
Council from 1995 to 1998, and also served in other advisory roles for the
Institute. In addition, Mr. Delaney was a founding member of the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services panel that writes guidelines for the use of
antiretroviral agents in HIV-infected adults and adolescents.
On January 19, 2008, Mr. Delaney received the NIAID Director’s Special
Recognition Award (http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2009/mdelaney.htm)
for “extraordinary contributions to framing the HIV research agenda,
particularly with regard to antiretroviral drugs and access to treatment;
exceptional efforts on behalf of HIV-infected people; and wise counsel while
serving on NIAID advisory committees.”
NIAID conducts and supports research--at NIH, throughout the United States, and
worldwide--to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and
to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses.
News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on
the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)--The Nation's Medical Research
Agency--includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S.
Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for
conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research,
and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare
diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
Dr. Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
HIV/AIDS, Women's Health Advocate Rosenfield Dies
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=55047
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Minority AIDS Council Mourns the Passing of Dr. Gene Copello, Executive
Director of The AIDS Institute
In a brief statement, The AIDS Institute announced yesterday that Executive
Director, Dr. Gene Copello, passed away on the morning of October 7. In their
words, "This is a great loss to The AIDS Institute and the entire HIV/AIDS
community and we will forever miss Gene’s leadership and friendship."
Dr. Copello began his career in HIV/AIDS as a faculty member at the Vanderbilt
University School of Medicine, where he also founded and directed the Vanderbilt
AIDS Project. He served on a wide array of boards of directors, local and
national in scope, and received several professional and community awards over
the past two decades. Dr. Copello’s work was grounded in years of community and
professional service for the HIV/AIDS community.
“Dr. Copello is irreplaceable,” says NMAC executive director, Paul Kawata. “He
was a fervent leader in the domestic AIDS movement, a champion of NMAC and a
true friend.”
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