San Francisco AIDS activist dies

David Smith Fox, a founding member of San Francisco's AIDS Foundation's HIV Prevention Project, a street-based needle-exchange program, died of AIDS-related complications on December 12, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. He was 50. Fox also previously served as a board member of the city's AIDS Emergency Fund, which provided emergency financial assistance to low-income persons with HIV/AIDS, and was former president of the board of Pacific News Wire Services. Fox also was active in the private-public partnership that renovated a 7.5-acre portion of Golden Gate Park into the National AIDS Memorial Grove. A memorial service was held January 11 on the University of San Francisco campus.