Playwright, founder of AIDS groups was 84

Larry Kramer, the trailblazing playwright whose ferocious advocacy for AIDS awareness fueled thousands to join militant protests in the early years of the epidemic — helping to change the course of a disease ravaging the gay community — died Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 84.

His death was confirmed to The Associated Press by Bill Goldstein, who’s writing a biography of the revolutionary author and tireless activist.

Kramer died of pneumonia, according to his husband, David Webster. He had also battled liver disease and had undergone a liver transplant.

Gov. Cuomo hailed Kramer as an indefatigable warrior, seeing comparisons in his fight during the AIDS crisis to the battle with coronavirus.

“Larry Kramer was fearless, uncompromising, relentless and loud — characteristics that ruffled feathers but that forced a response to a public health crisis,” Cuomo said.

“He demanded action, and countless people are alive today because of his work, and the work of so many others who refused to accept indifference.” The playwright of the Tony-winning, semi-autobiographical play “The Normal Heart” in 1985, Kramer was one of the founders of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), which fought relentlessly for government action during the HIV/AIDS crisis.

An unapologetic inyour-face activist, Kramer got involved in the AIDS issue when the federal government refused to acknowledge the then-largely unknown viral disease that decimated a generation of gay men and transgender women.

In 1984, Kramer lost his lover to the virus, and became infected himself — events that fueled his passionate defense of the rights of the HIV/AIDS community. He was also a co-founder of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, one of the country’s largest AIDS-service groups.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of Kramer’s main targets during the AIDS epidemic — has long praised his contribution.