Mathilde Krim, Microbiologist and AIDS Activist, Dead at 91

Dr. Mathilde Krim, a virologist who took up the fight not only against HIV but also the discrimination that early victims of the disease faced, died Jan. 15 at the age of 91, the New York Times reported in an obituary.

Dr. Krim was a founder and chair for the Foundation for AIDS Research, known by the acronym amfAR.

From the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, Dr. Krim was an advocate for AIDS patients, pushing back against simplistic and prejudicial notions about the disease and gay men, the Times article noted.

Dr. Krim pulled together influential friends from across the social spectrum and spearheaded fundraising initiatives. When it came to explaining the science - rather than the superstition - behind the pandemic, she proved more than able to provide insight and education. Krim had a solid scientific background; according to Wikipedia, "In 1962 Krim became a research scientist at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research and, from 1981 to 1985, she was the director of its interferon lab," What's more, the Times article recollected, she could make her case in five languages.

"In 1983, she created the AIDS Medical Foundation to raise money and support AIDS research," the Times reported. "In 1985, her group and another in Los Angeles merged to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR." Celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor lent their support to Dr. Krim's work, and Taylor served as amfARs inaugural international chairperson.

Krim's advocacy proceeded as much - or more - from compassion as from her fact-based understanding of the disease. A New York Times profile from 1984 quoted her as saying she had taken up the cause because "So many young men were dying, mostly intelligent and sophisticated young men, some of the city's best products. And many would be dying abandoned or alone because they were afraid to contact their families."

Dr. Krim was clear-eyed, in a way the government of the time was not, about the fact that AIDS was not, and never had been, a so-called gay disease.

"It's not going to remain in the high-risk groups," she told the New York Times in 1984. "All the evidence shows the disease is spreading in all directions," and posed a threat to everyone - not just gay men and intravenous drug users.

Dr. Krim's contributions were recognized within her own lifetime. Wikipedia notes that she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000 from then-President Bill Clinton.