LeRoy Whitfield was an American journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 who chronicled his personal experience with HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 infection and AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

. Whitfield was diagnosed with HIV at nineteen in 1990, and wrote a column, "Native Tongue", run in HIV Plus magazine since May 2004. He opted not to take antiretroviral medication, though his doctors suggested that he should. He also contributed to Vibe magazine and was an editor at Poz, a magazine intended for people with HIV. He focused on AIDS in his (black) community.

At the end of his life his T-cell count was 40, and his viral load 230,000. Nonetheless, he could not bring himself to take antiretroviral medication.

He died in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

of "AIDS-related complications," at the age of 36.

He is survived by his mother; his brother, Crofton Whitfield; and his sister, LaRonya Whitfield.