Mark Kostopoulos; Co-Founder of ACT UP/LA
Mark Kostopoulos, one of the principal founders of ACT UP/LA, a grass-roots militant organization dedicated to ending the spread of AIDS, is dead of that disease.
A family spokesman said Kostopoulos was 37 when he died Saturday night in a Los Angeles hospital.
Kostopoulos helped start the local chapter of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) shortly after the first chapter opened in New York City in 1987.
He also helped start a national ACT UP network, an umbrella group over local chapters, and spent several years working to promote national health care insurance.
Kostopoulos, a graduate of San Francisco State University, worked as a Postal Service carrier and also served on the board of directors of Health Access, a network of California organizations working for a statewide health care system.
Survivors include his parents, Wallace and Irene Rexroad, a sister, Sheera, and a brother, Kris.
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