Background
Gertz was born in Manhattan and was raised in an apartment on Park Avenue.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Alison Gertz
Edit Profile
Education
She attended the Horace Mann School, and later studied art at Parsons The New School for Design. In 1989, Gertz chose to publicly share her story and did an interview with The New York Times.
Career
Gertz died of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome-related pneumonia. In summer 1988, Gertz developed a persistent fever and chronic diarrhea. She was hospitalized and underwent testing to determine the cause of her illness.
Gertz was never tested for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome because doctors did not consider her to be in a "high-risk group" for the disease.
Two weeks later, she developed pneumonia. A bronchoscopy revealed that Gertz had Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Gertz later found out that she had contracted Human Immunodeficiency Virus from a 27-year-old man named Cort Brown.
He was a bisexual bartender whom Gertz met at Studio 54 when she was 16. They had their first and only sexual encounter in 1982.
He died of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in 1988.
She hoped to educate others about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and dispel the myths and misconceptions surrounding the disease. She stated:
All the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome articles are about homosexuals or poor people on drugs, and unfortunately a lot of people just flip by them. They think it doesn"t apply to them.
They can"t turn the page on medical
They have to deal with this. I want to talk to these kids who think they"re immortal.
I want to tell them: I"m heterosexual, and it took only one time for medical She became an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome activist, appearing on numerous television shows and also speaking with teenagers on the subject of safe sexual
In 1989, Gertz"s foundation, Love Heals, along with Martin Himmel Health Foundation, hired Tony Schwartz to create public service announcements on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome awareness.
The scripts and correspondence are housed at the Library of Congress in the Tony Schwartz Collection. In March 1992, American Broadcasting Company aired a television movie based on her life, starring Molly Ringwald. In the 24 hours after the movie aired, the federal Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome hotline received a record 189,251 calls.
On August 8, 1992, Gertz died of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome-related pneumonia at her family"s summer home in Westhampton Beach, New York at the age of 26.
Gertz was referred to in the song "Life Support" from the rock opera Rent. At the beginning of the song, the character who refers to herself as "Ali" was named after Gertz.
Achievements
-
She was the only child of Jerrold, a real estate executive and Carol Gertz, the founder of a woman"s clothing store Tennis Lady. During Gertz"s time as an activist, she was voted Woman of the Year by Esquire magazine and received the Secretary"s Award for Excellence in Public Service from the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Membership
At the beginning of the song, various members of the group say their names.
Connections
-
Born
-
Died
August 8, 1992 (aged 26) -
Nationality
United States