San Francisco Chronicle - November 19, 2009
Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer

A good-looking hipster-type who as a teenager was diagnosed with HIV, Mr. Zold was one of the most passionate and thoughtful AIDS activists of the 1990s, say his friends and cohorts in AIDS advocacy. He worked to secure funding for drugs and treatment for people with AIDS, helped create some of the first prevention campaigns aimed at gay teens, and was honored as a hero in the fight against AIDS when he was just 25 years old.

Mr. Zold died Nov. 4 at his home in San Francisco, after living with AIDS for many years. He was 38.

"He was diagnosed at a time when it was pretty much a death sentence," said Bob McIntyre, Mr. Zold's partner of 12 years. "It was eating him up. Not only him, but a lot of other people were getting sick and dying from this, and he wanted to do something about it."

Mr. Zold was born in Dearborn, Mich., and was diagnosed with HIV while living in Michigan. He moved to San Francisco in 1991, where he attended UCSF.

Mr. Zold had always been interested in politics and passionate about the causes that were important to him, said his sister, Elaine Zold of Huntington Woods, Mich. In the eighth grade, he handed out bumper stickers for Walter Mondale's presidential campaign and he would regularly watch the news with his father when he was a young child, she said.

When he moved to San Francisco and became wrapped up in the fights for funding and support for people with AIDS, his close friends and family weren't surprised, Elaine Zold said.

"He always had a lot of energy," his sister said. "He was always very single-minded, a focused, driven individual in everything he did, positive or negative."

As an AIDS activist in the 1990s, Mr. Zold first gained attention for his work with the Ryan White Project, securing funding for drug treatment programs for people with AIDS. He joined ACT UP Golden Gate in 1993 and was a spokesman for the group until 1997, serving as a liaison with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1996, then-Mayor Willie Brown honored Mr. Zold for his work.

Mr. Zold impressed fellow activists with his quick wit and intelligence, and his ability to talk with assurance to people at all levels of government, said Kate Krauss, director of the AIDS Policy Project in Philadelphia who worked with Mr. Zold at ACT UP Golden Gate.

"He was a brilliant activist, and he's someone against whom I measure myself and other activists," Krauss said. "He had the intelligence to think up really strategic things to do to benefit people with AIDS, and he had the nerve to follow through."

Mr. Zold retired from AIDS activism in 1997.

In addition to his partner and his sister, Mr. Zold is survived by his mother, Jackie Grimes of Kissimmee, Fla.; his father, Mel Zold of Southfield, Mich.; two half-sisters, Deb Coller of Pinckney, Mich., and Denise Patrick of Irvine; and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at noon Sunday at the AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco.

E-mail Erin Allday at eallday@sfchronicle.com.

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