MARTIN DELANEY
Founding Director, Project Inform
December 9, 1945 – January 23, 2009

PI press release     Community remarks     
Remarks from Anthony S. Fauci, MD     Media coverage

Eulogy for Martin Delaney

by Anthony S. Fauci, MD, Director, NIAID/NIH
March 14, 2009
San Francisco, CA

Martin Delaney, Founder, Project Inform

Ladies and Gentlemen, friends of Marty Delaney,

I feel extremely honored and privileged to be here to celebrate the life of Marty Delaney and to have been asked to express a few brief reflections about Marty and his extraordinary work on behalf of people with and at risk for HIV/AIDS. I knew Marty Delaney for 24 years. I first heard about him in early 1985 through some of my staff and HIV researchers who were actually quite intimidated by him, mostly because he was, as they said, ”making trouble for them” regarding the design of clinical trials. He certainly was a big-time headache for the FDA. Actually, the problem for them was that Marty was so smart, articulate and well-informed to the point that he knew more about HIV/AIDS and the complexities of treatment access, patient education, and a sound research agenda than some of them did. As they soon found out, he was correct most of the time.

Now, confrontational and theatrical activism certainly has its place and has been very effective in calling attention to important problems, notably HIV/AIDS. But Marty’s brand of AIDS activism was somewhat different. As I recently described him, he was analytical, well-informed, passionate, articulate, persistent, tough-minded, gracious, transparent, fair, and above all a thoroughly decent human being. He did not confront just for the sake of confrontation. I became very interested in learning more about this person whom I had not yet met. And so I began to read what he had written and I examined press reports about him and what he was doing in San Francisco and throughout the country. Furthermore, when I found out that he was formerly a Jesuit Seminarian, I decided I absolutely had to meet him personally since for better or worse I had experienced 8 years of Jesuit education in high school and college. And so I imagined that we might have a lot in common.

He beat me to the punch me by calling me up and saying that we needed to get together to talk about patient access to experimental drugs within the context of highly restrictive clinical trials. Although he was well-aware that I was not with the FDA, he wanted my support in confronting the FDA about accelerated approval of drugs for HIV and its opportunistic complications. We soon met and began one of the most extraordinary relationships that I have ever had with a colleague and a peer. When we both realized that we were fighting for the same thing, but we were just wearing different uniforms, we developed a respect for one another that gradually morphed into a genuine friendship that got stronger as the years went by. He never hesitated when he felt it necessary and appropriate to nudge me, critique me, advise me, scold me, and point out things that were not yet on my radar screen. He was an extraordinary source of information regarding the community needs: Where was the pain? Where was the anxiety? When was the time right to get out into the trenches and talk to specific people?

It was in this context that our collaboration was born, specifically in my speaking publicly for the Parallel Track program despite the resistance on the part of the FDA and many AIDS clinical researchers. Other activists, including Jim Eigo and his colleagues at ACT-UP in New York, also were pushing for a parallel track of accessibility for drugs in clinical trial. However, it was Marty who pleaded with me—successfully—to come to San Francisco and see firsthand patients from the Castro who were suffering physically and psychologically more than they should have been because the doors of access to drugs were shut to them. He then arranged the Town Hall meeting where I was to speak and as I was getting ready to go out on stage, he looked me in the eye and said, “Tony, do it; please do it”. He already had convinced me earlier in the day and so I did it, the New York Times reported it; Washington and the FDA relented and we had parallel track. I received credit for that, but it was pure Marty Delaney. That is just one of many stories and accomplishments in Marty’s legacy.

As things got a bit calmer over the years, Marty accomplishments did not diminish. He made extraordinary contributions in helping to frame the HIV research agenda. He was a member of the NIAID AIDS Research Advisory Committee from 1991 to 1995 and served on NIAID’s Advisory Council from 1995 to 1998, and well as on many other official advisory committees. But, it was not just the official advice that I treasured, it was the phone calls at home at 8:30 PM San Francisco time and 11:30 PM DC time opening with the comment” “I knew that you would be awake and so can you talk?” In a 20 minute call I would learn more about what was going on in the trenches—and what he thought I should be doing—than if I had 5 official briefings.

As I was preparing my remarks for this Memorial, I reflected that it is difficult to conceive of the struggle against HIV/AIDS without the presence of Marty Delaney. But then again, I quickly realized that this struggle against HIV/AIDS will always have Marty Delaney. For Marty left for us by his leadership and example a unique spirit, a fierce integrity, and a commitment to activism that does not die with physical death. He has left something of himself with all of us. When I presented Marty with the NIAID Director’s Special recognition Award a few weeks before he passed, I called him a Public Health Hero. Indeed, he always will be a hero to me and I will miss him dearly.