The AIDS Activist and the Banker
July 24, 2016 6:40 AM   Subscribe

Peter Staley was a 24 year-old banker at J.P. Morgan when he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1985. His brother, Jes, worked there as well. In a Q&A with Fortune, they discuss how their paths diverged,
posted by roomthreeseventeen (8 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
AIDS since '85? Jesus. I'm amazed that he survived long enough for the antiretrovirals.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:31 AM on July 24, 2016


I recently read a memoir-like book from someone who moved from being Bureau Chief at a major newspaper (I forgot which, WaPo or NYTimes or similar) to studying the MBA at Harvard. For a lot of the book, he is baffled by how many of his classmates want to pursue banking or investing or consultant-type roles, when everyone he's met with those roles (e.g. guest speakers or campus recruiters) keeps talking about how they haven't seen their kids in years and are burned out. Yet he never really met anybody who was more like Peter with his activist fervour - there were a couple of classmates who had a more SJ-esque take on things but they were outliers.

He was in the MBA in the early-mid 2000s, though the work of Peter and Jes dates back to the 80s or so. I wonder if there's more people like Peter at HBS now, finding ways to adapt the banking system to support large-scale radical change?
posted by divabat at 7:34 AM on July 24, 2016


I'm really impressed with how his family supported him, as a gay man, as HIV positive, and as an activist. In a lot of families in 1985 only being one of those could be enough for estrangement. And his family essentially cheered him on with ACT UP activism. (His brother sidestepped the question of whether coming out was a surprise, so it may really only have been the HIV diagnosis that surprised everyone.)

It's also pretty neat that the brother who stayed at the bank worked to make it LGBT friendly and actively support LGBT causes through his role at the bank.
posted by Margalo Epps at 7:44 AM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


AIDS since '85? Jesus. I'm amazed that he survived long enough for the antiretrovirals.

See How to Survive a Plague, and check out what Staley says at around 1:25 in the trailer.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:55 AM on July 24, 2016 [3 favorites]


I'm unable to link through to the article, so I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but the first anti retro-viral, AZT, was introduced in 1987. While many died from AIDS in the early days, there are still many survivors.
posted by stillmoving at 11:09 AM on July 24, 2016


I wonder if there's more people like Peter at HBS now, finding ways to adapt the banking system to support large-scale radical change?

ACT UP continues to demand a Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street transactions to fund health care for AIDS and HIV research. This is from 2012: ACT UP protests Wall Street, Media Coverage of ACT UP 25th Anniversary Action
posted by hippybear at 11:12 AM on July 24, 2016


hippybear: I'm mostly asking about whether there are students of MBA programs that are similarly activist-minded, and whether MBA programs actually provide space to foster such a thing.
posted by divabat at 4:43 PM on July 24, 2016


While many died from AIDS in the early days, there are still many survivors.

Last men standing
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:04 PM on July 24, 2016


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