Debbie Runions

Age: 55

Summary: AIDS activist and patient who called for governmental response to the spread of the disease after being declared HIV-positive in 1994, who spent her life promoting AIDS awareness and prevention and started the Tennessee Department of Education HIV Prevention Program in 1994, who served on President Bill Clinton's HIV/AIDS Advisory Council and appeared before the 1996 Democrat National Convention to ask the delegates to lead the fight against the spread of AIDS.

Cause of Death: AIDS-related complications

Born: February 3, 1950

Died: October 16, 2005

Location: Nashville, Tennessee