The Kerry Stoner Award: An enduring legacy

Kerry Stoner was born in rural Westmoreland County in 1953. He was an English teacher until the early 1980s when he moved to Pittsburgh to manage a local gay nightclub just as the AIDS epidemic was escalating. In 1984, the University of Pittsburgh launched the Pitt Men's Study (now one of the longest-running studies on HIV and AIDS in the country) to learn anything they could about the virus. Kerry began participating in the study and was selected to serve on the Community Advisory Board.

By 1985, it was clear that people with HIV/AIDS needed support services and advocacy as discrimination grew. Kerry Stoner volunteered to head the new committee, and the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force was born. When the PATF received funding to become its own separate organization, Kerry became its first Executive Director. He led the organization in providing counseling, free HIV testing, and legal services to HIV patients and the Pittsburgh community.

Kerry died of AIDS-related complications on June 2, 1993, at age 39. More than 500 people attended his funeral in Westmoreland County and visited his family's farm. 

Since 2001, PATF, now Allies for Health + Wellbeing, has presented the Kerry Stoner Award annually to someone who has shown commitment to Kerry’s legacy and vision.