""When Michael Seltzer first got involved in progressive and then gay activism in the 1970s, it was mostly funded through passing the hat at meetings and through low dollar fundraisers," Gay City News notes. "More than any other individual, Seltzer turned that around over the course of decades of work, from serving on boards of major gay organizations from 1980 onwards to creating and running organizations that exponentially increased philanthropy to gay and AIDS causes.""
""In a time when most LGBTQ+ philanthropy professionals were in the closet, Michael was out and proud," Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings said in a press release. "In the '80s and '90s, mainstream philanthropy simply did not prioritize LGBTQ+ people or those living with HIV, and Michael wouldn't accept that. He spent decades agitating to change priorities in the sector, and hundreds of millions of dollars flowed into organizations serving our communities as a result.""
Michael Seltzer died of cardiac arrest on July 31 at age 78 while vacationing on Governor Island near Branford, Connecticut. A native New Yorker and Syracuse University graduate, Seltzer became a major force in LGBTQ+ and AIDS philanthropy beginning in the 1970s and 1980s. He served on boards including cochairing Lambda Legal's board in 1981 and created organizations that greatly increased giving to gay and AIDS causes. A 1985 visit to a friend being treated for AIDS in Paris galvanized his fundraising work. He was openly gay in a profession where many hid, and his efforts helped direct hundreds of millions to community organizations. He is survived by his husband, Ralph Tachuk.
Read at Advocate.com
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