April 4, 1941 – December 29, 2020
Evelyn Joseph Fisher attended the University Liggett School in Grosse Pointe Woods and earned her M.D. from the Wayne State University Medical School. As senior specialist for infectious disease at Henry Ford Hospital, Fisher saw her first patient with AIDS in 1982. A year later Fisher was instrumental in helping to found Wellness Networks to serve the needs of people with HIV in southeast Michigan.
July 15, 1968 – February 4, 1996
AIDS activist Steven Martin Korzetz graduated from Anderson High School in Southgate. He went on to earn a Bachelor’s in business from Wayne State University and later worked in the hotel industry in Dearborn. Given six months to live in 1992, Korzetz left his job and traveled to more than 40 countries. He became involved in Wellness Networks as well. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 27.
Detroit Free Press, February 7, 1995
September 19, 1934 – August 4, 1992
Born in Bay City, Jill Marilyn (Conway) Ramseyer graduated from the Henry Ford Hospital nursing program in 1955 and began work as an RN for the Genesee County Public Health Department in 1972. The first nurse in Flint to do HIV testing, she was founder and later president of Wellness HIV/AIDS Services. Ramseyer retired to Au Gres in 1991 and was survived by her husband and two children.
Flint Journal, August 5, 1992
December 5, 1934 – October 28, 2001
A native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Cynthia Jane (Young) Wrentmore started as a public health nurse with the Washtenaw County Department of Public Health in 1958 and became as its communicable disease coordinator in 1981. She served on the board for Wellness Networks/Huron Valley, later known as the HIV/AIDS Resource Center, and was a pioneering AIDS educator in the Ann Arbor area.
March 13, 1931 – April 20, 2015
Marvin Phillip Marks of Southfield started his own accounting firm in the early 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, he held leadership positions in numerous local gay organizations, including Dignity/Detroit, the Motor City Business Forum, the Detroit Area Gay/Lesbian Council, the Forum Foundation, and Wellness Networks. Marks received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Pride Banquet in 2009.
May 3, 1948 – November 5, 2019
Grosse Pointe Park resident Stuart George Itzkowitz moved Detroit in 1974 after earning his Masters at the University of Michigan. He became active with the Wayne State University GLF, was a founder of MOHR, and served on the board of Wellness Networks. He went on to get his Ph.D. from Wayne State, where he later taught. Itzkowitz was preceded in death by his husband and partner of 38 years Larry Zimmerman.
July 18, 1952 – July 17, 1993
Eastpointe resident William Daryl Townsend was founding president of Friends Alliance for people with HIV, served on the board of Wellness Networks, and co-founded the Detroit chapter of ACT UP. His appearance on WDIV’s Sonya Friedman Show was canceled in 1985 because the camera crew feared AIDS contagion. He died of AIDS-related complications at age 40.
May 8, 1948 – January 19, 1995
Ferndale resident and pioneering AIDS activist Richard William Villaire was born in Wyandotte and attended Roseville High School and Ferris State University before earning his B.A. in psychology at Eastern Michigan University. He was an officer of the Michigan Organization for Human Rights and was a founder of Wellness Networks, Friends Alliance, and the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project.
September 18, 1955 – September 25, 1993
Born in Jackson, Timothy Gerald Warner shared a home in Ferndale with his life companion David Wyka and worked for Consumers Power. Warner served as president of the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce, sat on the city’s Beautification Commission, and volunteered with Wellness Networks. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 38.
November 19, 1947 – January 10, 1990
Utica resident Thomas Michael Bartley grew up in Port Huron, earned his B.S. in nursing in Houston and a Master’s in nursing from Mercy College in Detroit. He sang in the choir at Zion Lutheran Church in Ferndale and was involved in both Wellness Networks and AIDS Interfaith Network. Bartley was survived by two children and his lover Jim Proffitt. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 42.
Detroit Free Press, January 11, 1990
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 