"In Memoriam..."

Sean Sasser became one of the first faces of gay men of color living with HIV

Remembering Sean Sasser


September 18, 2013
By Joey DiGuglielmo

Sean Sasser Memorial Service
Saturday, September 21st at 11 a.m.
National City Christian Church
5 Thomas Circle, N.W.
Washington, D.C.

seansasserfund.aidsunited.org

Michael Kaplan and his late partner Sean Sasser had a circuitous romantic life.

The two met in 1991 and worked together waiting tables at the same bar in Minneapolis. But both were dating other people at the time and several months later, Sasser moved to San Francisco, a move that would prove life altering. While there, he met, dated and eventually married Pedro Zamora, a romance memorably captured on MTV’s “Real World: San Francisco” during its third season in 1994.

Kaplan and Sasser met again in 1996 at a conference and dated for about two years, some of which was long distance. They were apart for several years but reconnected in 2006 and spent the last six years living together.

Sasser, a long-time AIDS activist and pastry chef, spent his final years in Washington with Kaplan. He died Aug. 7 of HIV-exacerbated mesothelioma, a rare lung cancer Kaplan says Sasser was likely exposed to while working with asbestos fixing up old houses in his native Detroit decades ago. Sasser, born Oct. 25, 1968, was 45.

A public memorial service is planned for Saturday at 11 a.m. at National City Christian Church at Thomas Circle in Washington. “Real World” cast members Judd Winick and Pam Ling will speak along with Phill Wilson, president and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, and Douglas Brooks, chair of AIDS United’s Board of Trustees and a member of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

Kaplan is the president and CEO of AIDS United. He spoke with the Blade at length this week about his relationship with Sasser.

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