5 Notable People That the World Lost Because of AIDS

Denholm Elliott

Denholm Elliot, a veteran of World War II and a celebrated actor, was born in 1922, in London, England. He Joined the Royal Air Force during World War II. Later, he was taken as a prisoner of war in a camp in Silesia when his aircraft crashed near Sylt, Germany in September of 1942.

After being released, Elliot then went on to make his film debut in Dear Mr. Prohack (1949). He has acted with many famous actors, and has over 120 television credits and has had a career that included many prominent characters of the 20th century, and also had a career that included many stage performances. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) was perhaps his best-known character of all that he played. He has also been nominated and won many British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination.

Elliot married twice, the first to the British actress Virginia McKenna and then to actress Susan Robinson, who bore him two children, and he had been rumored to be a bisexual.Denholm Elliot was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, and passed away in his home in Ibiza, Spain as a result of AIDS-related tuberculosis on October 6, 1992 at the age of 70.

Saac Asimov

Vagueness in his birth and death, Isaac Asimov was a famous writer in the mid-90s. Although the exact date of his birth is unknown, he is said to have been born between 4th October, 1919, and 2nd Januray, 1920 in Petrovichi, Soviet Russia. His family immigrated to the United States when Asimov was a toddler.

Isaac Asimov was a science-fiction and has had one of the most prolific writing careers in history, with having edited or published more than 500 books and over 9,000 letters. His most well-known work is the Foundation Series. Later he published the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series, along with many short stories and recurrent contributions to magazines.

Asimov went through a triple bypass surgery in December 1983 after suffering a heart attack. 9 years later, at the age of 72, Asimov’s brother announced his death and cited the cause as heart and kidney failure. It was only ten years later, when Janet Asimov, Isaac Asimov’s wife released an autobiography of his life called ‘It’s Been a Good Life’ that it was revealed that the complications that he faced that cause his demise were HIV-related.

Stewart McKinney

Born in 1931, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Stewart McKinney was elected as a Republican to the Connecticut State House of Representatives 35 years later. He then ran and won for the U.S. House in 1970. His most renowned work was the Homeless Assistance Act of 1986, which was an initiative to subsidize shelter programs. He is also known as the first person to utter the words “too big to fail” in relation to large banks.

Following heart complications, McKinney underwent heart surgery. Although he was diagnosed with HIV a few years later, his condition was only made known to the public a while before his death, on May 7, 1987. His surgeon appealed that he had contracted AIDS through an HIV positive blood transfusion during his heart surgery, but there is no proper proof as McKinney was also actively bisexual.

McKinney was survived by his five children and his wife, Luci Cunningham, granddaughter of a co-founder of Standard Oil. Stewart McKinney is known to be the first U.S. Congressman to have died as a result of AIDS. After his passing away the ‘Salt Meadow National Wildlife Refuge’ in Connecticut was renamed ‘Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge’ by the U.S. Congress. His son, John McKinney then followed his father’s footsteps and became the State Senator from Fairfield.