Dutch AIDS Advocate Joseph Scheich Dies of AIDS-Related Complications

Joseph Scheich, a Dutch AIDS advocate and manager of STOP AIDS NOW! at AIDS Fonds, died from AIDS-related complications on Wednesday in the Netherlands (AIDS Healthcare Foundation release, 1/15). AIDS Fonds, which is partially funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, was established in 1985 and describes itself as "active in the fight against AIDS and in supporting people with HIV/AIDS" (AIDS Fonds Web site, 1/17). AIDS Fonds joined forces with other development organizations in the Netherlands to set up STOP AIDS NOW! to raise funds in order to contribute to more AIDS projects in poor countries; to keep the general public in the Netherlands informed about HIV/AIDS-related issues and to strengthen public support for the global fight against HIV/AIDS; and to obtain political and public support for the battle against AIDS, both nationally and internationally (STOP AIDS NOW! Web site). Terri Ford, director of advocacy for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said, "[Scheich] was a very opinionated leader while still being a very sweet man. His death is a major loss to the fight for treatment access worldwide" (AHF release, 1/15).

San Francisco AIDS Advocate David Smith Fox Dies
David Smith Fox, a founding member of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's HIV Prevention Project, a street-based needle-exchange program aimed at preventing the spread of HIV, died of AIDS-related complications at age 50 on Dec. 12, 2002. Smith Fox was a former board member of the AIDS Emergency Fund in San Francisco, a not-for-profit organization that provides emergency financial assistance to low-income persons with HIV or AIDS, and was former president of the board of Pacific News Wire Service (San Francisco Chronicle, 1/8).