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Washington, D.C., September 7, 2011 - The National Association of
People With AIDS (NAPWA) announces with deep regret the death of NAPWA trustee Kevin Sullivan, who died September 5 of cancer. Sullivan
had lived with HIV for twenty-five years and cancer for five, but his cancer had been in remission until very recently.
In ten years as executive director of Ohio AIDS Coalition, Sullivan built successful alliances of ASOs, people living
with HIV and those who loved them, service providers, and others affected by the HIV epidemic. He was among the HIV community's most
effective and welcome advocates in the state capitol in Columbus and on Washington's Capitol Hill. When shrinking public funding
and a changing prevention and treatment landscape mandated consolidation of state-level ASOs, he engineered the graceful
merger of Ohio AIDS Coalition into AIDS Resource Center Ohio, a reorganization completed just two weeks before his death.
As a trustee of NAPWA, Sullivan brought unsurpassed understanding of the connection between prevention and
treatment needs on the ground and state and national policy issues. He also brought his organizational experience and energy to the nuts
and bolts business of helping NAPWA function effectively in a difficult funding climate. He never let NAPWA's staff or his fellow
trustees forget who we are working for.
"There's no way I can say how much we will miss Kevin," said NAPWA Chair Michelle Lopez. "He was one of the
NAPWA family's most effective Board Members, and one of the best loved. His death reminds us that people are still dying of HIV
disease and the cancers that people living with HIV are more likely to face. His whole life shows us that people with HIV can
live full lives of public service, and our job as NAPWA is to help them do it."
"It's not just the operational and policy skills we'll miss," added NAPWA President and CEO Frank J. Oldham, Jr. "Kevin was
as hard-headed and clear-eyed as anyone I have ever known about the choices his organizations had to make. But he always focused the
issues in ways that kept everyone in the conversation and led to solutions everyone could support. Great organizations are built
around great boards. Great boards are built around trustees like Kevin. Kevin will be remembered as one of the finest leaders
in the AIDS movement."
"Kevin Sullivan dedicated his life to fighting for the HIV/AIDS community in Ohio," said NAPWA Trustee Tyler TerMeer,
who worked under Sullivan at Ohio AIDS Coalition and remained a close personal friend, "but his service to humanity and tireless
dedication to creating social change was felt by all those whom had the privledge of meeting him. He was a focused voice of
reason on the Board of NAPWA advocating for all PLWHA. Kevin was an inspiring leader, mentor and friend to us all at NAPWA
and his life's work will have made this world a better place."
We are proud and grateful to have had Kevin for as long as we did. A special fund has been established to sustain the AIDS
Coalition of Ohio programs he built in his ten years as the organization's executive director and handed off so gracefully to AIDS
Resource Center Ohio. Contributions can be made online at http://www.arcohio.org/giftoflife.
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The National Association of People with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) Founded
in 1983 as the largest and oldest advocacy group for people living with HIV/AIDS, NAPWA is the trusted independent voice for all
people living with the virus in the United States. NAPWA remains a strong voice in policy, capacity building, leadership
development, and social networking. NAPWA is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization based in Silver Spring, Maryland. For
more information about NAPWA, please visit www.napwa.org.
CONTACT: Peter Kronenberg, Vice President for Communications, NAPWA
240.247.1025 - pkronenberg@napwa.org
"Reproduced with permission - "National Association of People with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) "
National Association of People with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA)
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