Canadian AIDS ‘Crusader’ Peter Wood Dies at 54

Peter Wood, an early "crusader" for HIV/AIDS awareness in Canada, died from lymphoma caused by AIDS on Oct. 4 at the age of 54, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports. Wood was one of 15 men who founded the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia, and he served as the first executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador AIDS Committee, as well as being a board member of the Canadian AIDS Society. "I consider Peter one of the building blocks (for HIV/AIDS awareness) in Nova Scotia," AIDS Coalition Executive Director Robert Allan said. "He felt that people with HIV/AIDS ... needed access to the kind of health care that anyone else would have access to, the same support that anyone else would have," he said, adding that most of the earliest diagnosed cases were among gay men and intravenous drug users. A memorial service will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Nov. 10 (Newhook, Toronto Globe and Mail, 10/19).