Robert Levithan

Robert Levithan (April 11, 1951 - May 3, 2016), was an American writer and HIV/AIDS activist who has had a significant influence on LGBT culture. Levithan has been on the forefront of the reaction to the HIV/AIDS epidemic since the early Eighties. Levithan wrote prolifically on living with HIV and other issues related to LGBT culture on both Advocate.com and GoodMenProject.com.[1] He died of cancer in 2016. He was gay.[2]

Robert Levithan and Sophie

Early years

Levithan was born on the island of Manhattan on April 11, 1951, the third son of Alice and Lou Levithan. He was raised in Englewood, New Jersey, attending public schools K - 12 and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1969.[3][4] He died on May 13, 2016 at the age of 65.

AIDS crisis

In 1984 Levithan trained at GMHC as a buddy and began volunteer work with seriously ill patients. In 1986, he founded an alternative support group, The Healing Circle, and became actively involved, eventually leading groups. By 1987 the group had several hundred attendees at 3 weekly groups, representing an alternative to the mainstream agencies which were preparing people to die. The Manhattan Center for Living was formed and then in 1991 Levithan began working as a counselor, group facilitator, and later, board member at Friends in Deed.[5]

References
  1. "The New 60". advocate.com. 2010-04-02. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  2. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/robert-levithan-dead-age-65_n_573e027fe4b0646cbeec70fe
  3. "About Robert Levithan". goodmenproject.com. 2011-05-01. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  4. Levithan, Robert. "MLK, Selma, Marriage Equality, You and Me", Huffington Post, January 20, 2015. Accessed August 27, 2018. "Dr. Martin Luther King was only 39 when he was murdered in 1968. I remember that day clearly. I was a Junior at Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, New Jersey and I was amongst about ten students who were summoned to the vice principal’s office to discuss how to ‘not have an eruption of violence’ in our school.... Englewood was an unusual place to grow up in the fifties and sixties."
  5. "Charlie Rose- A Conversation About AIDS". charlierose.com. 1995-11-08. Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
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