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Obituaries: Dr. Ron Sable

By VVAW

Dr. Ron Sable, Physician, gay rights activist, longtime VVAW member and catalyst for social change.

Ron Sable died December 30, 1993, of complications from AIDS.

A medic in Vietnam, he joined and was president of the local VVAW chapter in Kansas in 1970. He continued as a local leader while in medical school at the University of Missouri.

After moving to Chicago, he began working at Cook County Hospital. He founded IMPACT, a leading Illinois gay and lesbian political action committee. When women's right to choose was challenged during the Reagan years, he appeared on the front page of the newspapers saying he'd continue to respect women's rights, no matter what the law said.

A original backer of Harold Washington, Ron served on two city human rights committees—gay/lesbian and veterans.

He ran as the first openly gay candidate for the City Council in Chicago and came within a few hundred votes of winning. "As a result of Ron's campaign..many gay and lesbian political organizations developed after people realized they could be forces in the city." Said alderwomen Helen Shiller.

He cofounded an AIDS and HIV clinic at County Hospital in 1983. He volunteered at the Howard Brown Memorial Clinic. He was a founding Board Member of the AIDS Foundation which honored him in 1992.

He spoke frequently at VVAW functions and was respected in the vets community.

Survivors include his partner Jose Narvaez; two sons, John and Mathews; his mother, Barbara; and a sister, Cindy Weinstein.