AIDS worker dies
in Cameroon plane crash

Africa captured the heart of Albert Henn nearly four decades ago, when he worked in Togo as a field doctor for the U.S. Peace Corps.

He dedicated his life to Africa ever since, most recently leading an AIDS treatment and testing center on a continent where the disease has ravaged the population.

Henn, 70, died Saturday when Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashed into a mangrove swamp in Cameroon, killing all 114 people on board.

''Unlike a lot of us who have dreams of doing things that we never get around to doing, I think he actually was able to implement his dream,'' said Elizabeth Dunning, a friend of Henn's from Massachusetts, where he had a home. ''He did exactly what he wanted. He did a lot of good.''

Henn led Liverpool VCT, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to HIV prevention, care, and treatment, since 2005. Liverpool VCT administered an HIV test to U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama during Obama's trip to Kenya last year to promote the need for safe sex in a country where about 700 people die each day from AIDS complications.

Henn ''was a wonderful boss--a real coach and mentor,'' said Ernest Nyamato, director of HIV services at Liverpool VCT. He said Henn required a lot from his staff because the problem of HIV in Africa is so huge. "He was demanding, but rightfully so."

A former Harvard School of Public Health instructor and U.S. Agency for International Development official, Henn worked in Togo in the U.S. Peace Corps from 1968 to 1970. He has also worked in Egypt and Niger on medical projects.

''His heart was captured back then in this continent and its people,'' his daughter, Julia Henn, told The Boston Globe in a telephone interview from her home in Kampala, Uganda. ''He always continued to give everything possible that he could possibly give to Africa.''

She said she and her father's wife, United Nations official Kristan Schoultz, would travel to Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday to plan a celebration in his memory.

''My father was an amazing person," said Julia Henn. "He just loved his work so much and believed in what he was doing so passionately. He touched many people in his life.''

Henn, the only American passenger on board, is also survived by a son. (AP)