Robert Alan Rafsky (July 22, 1945 – February 21, 1993) was an American writer, publicist, and HIV/AIDS activist.

Early life and education

Robert Alan Rafsky was born July 22, 1945, to civil servant William L. Rafsky of

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and Selma Rafsky née Chafets in Philadelphia. His family was politically active. Lawrence C. Rafsky was his brother. He enrolled at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in the fall of 1963. Rafsky lived in Wigglesworth and volunteered at the Loeb Drama Center. He was expelled for academic reasons but was later readmitted in 1964 and later became the managing editor of ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. His ...

''. Rafsky graduated Harvard in 1968.

Career

Rafsky worked as a teacher after graduation, but ultimately pursued more lucrative careers. Rafsky worked in public relations in New York. He worked for the Empire State Development Corporation, Howard Rubenstein & Associates, and Pro-Media. Rafsky became involved with

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

in 1987 after his diagnosis with AIDS. He later became the chief spokesperson of

, assisting the organization to gain prominent national coverage. Correspondent and organizer Victor Zonana remarked that Rafsky "was articulate, contentious, persuasive, dogged and very often right." David B. Feinberg called Rafsky the "heart and soul of ACT UP." Rafsky was a nationally recognized HIV/AIDS activist. His 1992 confrontation with then-presidential candidate

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

secured much publicity and made HIV/AIDS a presidential campaign issue. Rafsky said, "I can't calm down. I'm dying of AIDS while you're dying of ambition," to which Clinton eventually responded, "I feel your pain." Rafsky also helped draft an AIDS agenda for the Clinton Administration. Additionally, in 1992 Rafsky delivered a speech titled "Bury Me Furiously" at the funeral of fellow ACT UP member Mark Fisher. Within the speech, Rafsky demanded change and publicly denounced the Bush administration for their negligence of the AIDS epidemic. The impact of both the confrontation with Bill Clinton and "Bury Me Furiously" led to not only increased national awareness for the epidemic, but priority for policy within the Clinton administration. Rafsky was an active member of the

Treatment Action Group Treatment Action Group (TAG) is a U.S.-based organization that has been prominent within the movement of HIV/AIDS activism. Being formed in 1991, it has possessed the goals of working with worldwide efforts to increase research on treatments for HI ...

. Peter Staley said that Rafsky was "enormously influential" in one-to-one interactions. Rafsky wrote personal essays about AIDS for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'', ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'', '' OutWeek'', and ''QW''. He was writing a book comprising letters to his daughter at the time of his death.

Personal life

He was married to Babette Krolik and had a daughter named Sara. He came out in 1985 and later divorced his wife, sharing joint custody of their daughter. It was at this time that Rafsky began telling his friends he was gay. Around 1987, he contracted AIDS. He died of AIDS-related complications on February 21, 1993, at the New York University Medical Center.

Legacy

Rafsky's role with ACT UP was a focal part of the 2012 documentary '' How to Survive a Plague''.

References

External links