Bay Area Reporter - October 15, 2009
Cynthia Laird, c.laird@ebar.com

The cause of death was complications brought on by pulmonary embolism. He had been admitted to the hospital on October 1.

Dr. Scott, who was openly gay, founded the AIDS Project of the East Bay in 1983 to help address the epidemic in Oakland. The agency provides HIV prevention information and supports individuals living with HIV/AIDS through programs targeted at some of the most vulnerable and marginalized people in Alameda County. He also pioneered innovative treatment of HIV/AIDS and led best practices in urban HIV prevention and treatment and was frequently asked to address practitioners and medical professionals throughout the United States and abroad.

In 2004, Dr. Scott became the first African American physician to become licensed to practice in Zimbabwe. At the time of his death, he maintained, on a volunteer basis, over 800 patients at the Mother of Peace Orphanage in Zimbabwe, where he traveled several times a year to deliver clothing and supplies from Allen Temple Baptist Church's outreach efforts to children whose parents had died of AIDS.

He also established the AIDS ministry at Allen Temple, which was one of the few black churches to set the tone for faith-based ministries in this area.

Longtime East Bay AIDS activist John Iversen said Dr. Scott was a pivotal figure in the Bay Area.

"Bob Scott was active in the epidemic early on," Iversen told the Bay Area Reporter. "He used to go to cruising areas and confront people about unsafe sex. He would redistribute the wealth by taking pharmaceutical money and passing it on to worthy groups. I remember Jeff Getty organized a benefit for AIDS Emergency Fund and Dr. Scott dropped $500. We shared a commonality of raising money for African AIDS orphanages (me for Uganda and Bob for Zimbabwe)."

Iversen said the two did a joint benefit at Unicorn Pan Asian Cuisine three years ago.

"Dr. Scott also loved Brazil, its people, culture, and literature," Iversen added.

The Reverend Dr. D. Mark Wilson, an openly gay black pastor, said that Dr. Scott "recruited me into HIV/AIDS activism back in 1992 when I first became a pastor at a church in Berkeley."

Wilson went on to serve on the board of AIDS Project of the East Bay.

"He challenged clergy like me not to let persons living with HIV/AIDS die alone," Wilson added.

Wilson credited Dr. Scott with helping to change the climate of homophobia in black churches in the East Bay. Dr. Scott organized a focus group of black gay men from his congregation to meet with Wilson, who was working on his doctoral dissertation on the social and political practices of African American churches.

"One of the men in the group said, 'There used to be a time when we would hear the words God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve regularly from the pulpit. And then it just stopped.'"

Wilson confronted his friend, who told him that he pulled together three pastors in the community and told them they were not helping his patients by what they were saying in the pulpit.

"Their health had come to the point where they needed a pastor not a doctor, and they couldn't talk with their own pastor," Wilson recalled Dr. Scott as telling him.

"There are not too many African American doctors with Bob's knowledge and commitment to HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ folk in the black community," Wilson said. "And the pool gets even smaller when one takes into account the very few gay doctors who are in the Bay Area who know how to provide care, particularly for gay men in the language and cultural way we can understand. Now that Bob's gone, who will fill that void for us?"

Born in Chicago, Dr. Scott earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, followed by a Master of Science and Master of Education at the University of Illinois; he moved to California in 1968.

In 1969, Dr. Scott taught anatomy, physiology, and microbiology at Laney College in Oakland.

In 1974, he completed medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, followed by the completion of an internship in medicine at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. In 1975, he held a residency in internal medicine at Stanford University Hospital in Palo Alto until 1977.

Thereafter, Dr. Scott entered private practice, specializing in infectious diseases and internal medicine. His Oakland-based practice served several thousand patients, over 400 of whom have HIV/AIDS.

He was a Regent's Scholar of the University of California and a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Beta, and other national honor societies. He served as a clinical instructor at the medical schools of UCSF, UC Davis, and Stanford University.

Dr. Scott was known for his support and contributions to many community-based organizations. He was an elected board member of Project Open Hand, Families Created by Adoption, and the HIV Trial Researchers. He received awards and commendations from many groups, including the Alameda County Office of AIDS, State of Emergency Task Force; UCSF; New Spirit Community Church; and the Bay Area Consortium for Quality Health Care.

Tom Nolan, executive director of Project Open Hand, recalled Dr. Scott's tenure on the board in the late 1990s.

"He was just a giant in Alameda County," Nolan told the B.A.R.

Nolan added that when Dr. Scott used to make presentations to the board, he always put a special emphasis on the East Bay.

"I also saw him with clients and he cared about them deeply," Nolan added.

He is survived by his partner of 22 years, Lamont Nickens; an adopted son Melvin; Jesse from a previous foster care relationship; cousins; extended family; loyal patients; and many colleagues and friends.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, October 17 at 11 a.m. at Allen Temple Baptist Church, 8501 International Boulevard, in Oakland. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Allen Temple AIDS Ministry and AIDS Project East Bay.
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