Larry Kessler
is a founding member and the Executive Director of the AIDS
Action
Committee of Massachusetts, New England's oldest and largest AIDS
service organization. Beginning in 1983 as its only paid staff
member, Kessler and a small corps of volunteers organized to
combat
the AIDS epidemic through service, education, advocacy and
outreach.
At the time, there were 13 cases of AIDS diagnosed in
Massachusetts.
Kessler now directs a staff of 100 full-time employees supported
by several thousand volunteers who provide support services to
more than 1400 men, women and children living with AIDS and HIV.
The community-based organization also provides AIDS education
and prevention programs for health care providers, the public
and individuals whose behavior puts them at risk of HIV
infection.
Experience
Since the onset of the epidemic, Kessler has played a leading
role in advocating at the state, local and federal level for fair
and effective AIDS policy and funding. He was an original member
of the Governor's Task Force on AIDS and the Boston Mayor's Task
Force on AIDS, under appointments by Governor Michael S. Dukakis
and Mayor Raymond Flynn, respectively. Kessler was a founding
board member of the former National AIDS Network which was
created
in 1985 to provide technical assistance and information to
community-based
AIDS education and service organizations throughout the country.
He is also a founding board member of the AIDS Action Council
in Washington, the only national organization devoted exclusively
to shaping policy on the HIV epidemic.
Kessler also serves on
the Advisory Board of the Harvard AIDS Institute and on the Board
of Directors of the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS.
In 1989
, Kessler was nominated by the United States Senate to serve
on the independent, bipartisan 15-member National Commission on
AIDS. The Commission was created by statute to make
recommendations
to the White House and Congress for a consistent national policy
concerning the HIV epidemic.
Kessler was born on June 20, 1942
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his background in community
organizing is rooted. After briefly studying for the priesthood,
Kessler was employed as a structural ironworker. In the 1960's
he joined the ranks of the national movement for social and
economic
justice, first as an antipoverty worker in Pittsburgh, and then
later in McKees Rocks, PA where he started and ran a
Meals-on-Wheels
program from 1968 to 1970.
From 1970 to 1973, Kessler directed
the Thomas Merton Center, a Pittsburgh peace and justice
ministry.
A nationally known member of the Catholic Committee on Urban
Ministry,
Kessler took an active leadership role in the anti-war movement
and the struggle for economic justice for the poor.
In 1973,
Kessler
accepted a position with the Paulist Center in Boston as Director
of the Office of Peace and Justice. During his tenure there, he
helped reorganize Boston's Walk for Hunger/Project Bread. He also
initiated the Isaac Hecker Award at the Paulist Center, giving
the first one to Dorothy Day.
Honors
& Recognition
In 1987, the Paulist Center honored
Kessler with his
own Isaac Hecker award for his leadership in the fight
against
AIDS.
In 1987, Kessler was awarded an Honorary Doctoral Degree
in Human Services from Simmons College
In 1992, Salem State
College awarded Kessler an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
Kessler was honored in 1991 with the prestigious
Massachusetts
Health Council Award which is given annually to an individual
who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of
the general health of the citizens of the Commonwealth.
Internships
