April 15, 1951 – February 3, 2021
Gregory Charles Piazza moved to Detroit from Wisconsin to attend Wayne State University, where he earned a Bachelor’s in speech. He soon became enmeshed in local gay culture and in 1974 moved into the Palmer Park apartment district. His research was instrumental in having the neighborhood added to the National Register of Historic Places. Piazza was also long active in the leather club Tribe.
October 10, 1951 – February 10, 2010
Born in Lansing, Darnell Austin Clark graduated from Everett Hight School in 1970 and as a youth performed with the Suitcase Theater on two tours in Europe. He was later employed with Oldsmobile as a purchasing technician for more than 30 years. Clark died at age 58 of complications from diabetes and was survived by his life partner John McGarey.
Lansing State Journal, February 18, 2010
January 13, 1951 – July 17, 2019
Owosso native and world traveler Micheal Eugene Koutz graduated with the Hastings High School class of 1969 and went on to Central Michigan University. Following two decades with Adventure Travel in Kalamazoo, Koutz and Michael LoPresto established Experts Travel in 1994. The two were also husbands and life partners, together for 39 years.
October 17, 1951 – July 23, 2012
Hailing from Oklahoma, Christopher Towne Leland earned degrees at Pomona College and UC San Diego before moving from California to Detroit’s Indian Village. He taught at Wayne State University as a professor of English from 1990 until his death and authored ten books, including five novels. He was survived by his partner of 33 years Osvaldo Sabino.
February 25, 1951 – October 7, 1996
Redford resident David Ross Betley grew up in Beverly Hills and graduated in 1969 from Groves High School in Birmingham. Betley was employed as an assistant manager with Budget Rent-A-Car and, together with his companion Brian Carmody, belonged to the Motor City Organ Society. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 45.
October 19, 1951 – November 2, 2020
Debra Jean McGee was a master drummer and a priest of Obatala in the Yoruba faith. After moving to Michigan from New York, she worked as a coordinator at the Flushing Senior Center, received her Bachelor’s from the University of Michigan-Flint, and earned her MSW at the UM School of Social Work, specializing in geriatrics. McGee and her partner Sandy Cleomaude married in Swartz Creek in 2017.
January 8, 1951 – May 1, 1991
Geoffrey Martin Fine grew up in Ann Arbor and moved to New York City following high school. He appeared in a number of Off-Broadway plays before moving back to Ann Arbor in 1975 to study choreography and dance at the University of Michigan. On returning on New York, Fine pursued stand-up and volunteered with Gay Men’s Health Crisis. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 40.
March 5, 1951 – April 17, 1996
Native Detroiter Floyd Dunn was a playwright, civil rights activist, and leader in the 1980s of the Detroit Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays. Dunn later served as the founding director of the Black AIDS non-profit organization Project Survival and advocated for the inclusion of men and women of color in clinical trials. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 45.
No known obituary
November 2, 1951 – January 16, 1994
Stephen Mark Kritsick grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts and attended Michigan State University, earning his B.S. there in 1973 and his degree in veterinary medicine there in 1974. After working in the ER of a Manhattan animal hospital. For many years before his death, he was a regular pet care expert on Good Morning America on ABC. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 42.
Lansing State Journal, January 17, 1994
February 18, 1951 – November 2, 1989
Donald Lee “Don” DeMorrow Jr. was born in and grew up in Benton Harbor. Following high school, from 1969 to 1971, he served as a corpsman in the U.S. Navy. Three years later he settled in California. DeMorrow met his lover Hess Davison in 1979 and the two shared a home in Guernesville, north of San Francisco. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 38.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 