June 9, 1954 – June 14, 2013
Barry Charles Ress was born in Cleveland, Ohio June 9, 1954 and died June 14, 2013, two years after being diagnosed with ALS. He was the youngest of four children born to Tom and Mary Ress. He died at the home he shared with his partner of 29 years, Chip Rath. He was an avid biker, swimmer, music and theater lover. Barry stood up to injustice. He dedicated his life to helping others as a registered nurse between 1977 and 1987 and then a nurse practitioner with bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing. He was the first clinical nurse specialist at Highland Hospital teaching about AIDS in 1988 and dedicated his career to AIDS care, geriatric care, and patient palliative care at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland. He worked in ACT UP/East Bay and on many of the state campaigns to protect gay rights. Money has been donated in his name to the foundation he and Rath helped create to improve literacy in Oakland, the Friends of the Oakland Public School Libraries at http://www.fopsl.org. A blog is available at http://barryress.blogspot.com/.