Rev. Dr. A. Steve Pieters, one of the longest HIV/AIDS survivors in the United States, has passed away at 70. According to spokesperson Harlan Boll, Pieters died on Saturday (8 July) after he was hospitalised from an infection.
He had been battling gastrointestinal cancer that metastasized. Pieters was born on 2 August, 1952 in Andover, Massachusetts.
He pursued professional ministry in 1976 when he joined Good Shepherd Parish Metropolitan Community Church in Chicago, before receiving his Master of Divinity Degree from McCormick Theological Seminary three years later.
At the same time, he accepted a pastor position at the Metropolitan Community Church of Hartford, Connecticut. Pieters resigned in 1982 and moved to Los Angeles.