Antonio Cornelius Baker. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Antonio Cornelius Baker, whose extensive career in public health included service as special adviser to the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes of Health and as executive director of D.C.’s Whitman-Walker Health and the National Association of People With AIDS, died unexpectedly at his home of natural causes on Nov. 9, according to friends and former colleagues.
Among the numerous organizations to which he provided support and guidance was the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, which, upon learning of his passing, released a statement that reflects the view of many who knew Baker.
“A. Cornelius Baker stood with our founder, Elizabeth Taylor, at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS movement and throughout her legacy,” the statement says. “The ETAF officers and staff team join his family, friends and community as we mourn his loss together,” it says, adding, “We find comfort in knowing that his spirit, along with Elizabeth’s, will continue to guide and inspire us and the entire HIV/AIDS movement in our ongoing work.”
A native of New York, Baker received a bachelor’s degree from the Rochester, N.Y., Institute of Technology’s Eisenhower College before moving to D.C., in 1982 for an internship at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He next worked for the Washington City Paper before working in 1983 as a fundraiser for the LGBTQ group Brother Help Thyself.
Biographical information from the D.C. Rainbow History Project shows he worked on U.S. civil rights advocate Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign in 1984 and later that year joined the election campaign of former D.C. Council member Carol Schwartz. Following Schwartz’s election, Baker worked on Schwartz’s Council staff as an executive assistant from 1986 to 1989.
Baker’s LinkedIn page shows he worked briefly in 1989 at the White House Office of Presidential Personnel under President George H.W. Bush before beginning work as a Confidential Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Health at the Department of Health and Human Services from October 1989 to May 1992.
His next career move was to join the National Association of People With AIDS in 1992 initially as policy director and later as executive director, where he served until 1999. According to his LinkedIn page, he next joined the then Whitman-Walker Clinic, which is currently called Whitman-Walker Health, in 1999 as executive director.
“Cornelius Baker led Whitman-Walker through challenging times, strengthening the infrastructure and organizational culture, but always with keen attention to the people we were serving,” said Whitman-Walker’s current CEO, Naseema Shafi. “He brought that commitment to community, to Whitman-Walker, and he continued it throughout all of his years of service.”
He held his executive director’s position at Whitman-Walker until December 2004 when he began work with the National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition as a senior adviser, a position he held until 2014, when he took a position as Technical Adviser for RHI 360, a global research organization specializing in health-related issues. He remained in that position until 2014, his LinkedIn page shows
Later that year he began work as an Acting Deputy Coordinator at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy. He assumed the position of Chief Policy Adviser for that office in 2015 and held the position until October 2017.
According to his LinkedIn page, he next served as a lecturer with the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University for seven years while also working as a special adviser beginning in 2018 to the Office of AIDS Research and the U.S. Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) at the National Institutes of Health. His LinkedIn page says he continued in those two positions to the “present,” possibly up until 2024.
An Emory University spokesperson confirmed that Baker was on the university’s faculty where he lectured and mentored students. Friends of Baker said he had a close friend in Atlanta and most likely spent time with the friend when he lectured there while remaining a D.C. resident.
“The loss of Cornelius Baker, who passed away recently, has left a deep, irreplaceable void in the hearts of those who knew him, worked with him, and were touched by his profound impact on the world,” said Wisdom Ijay, in a write-up for a publication of an organization called Evening Prayer who identified himself as a friend of Baker.
“While Cornelius is most well-known for his contributions to the HIV/AIDS movement, his advocacy work spanned a range of social justice issues,” Ijay said. “His passion for racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and women’s rights made him an instrumental figure in advancing the causes that he cared deeply about,” Ijay states in is write up on Baker.
“When it came to LGBTQ+ rights, Cornelius was an advocate for intersectional activism – recognizing that the right for LGBTQ+ equality was not separate from the broader movements for racial and gender justice,” he states. “He worked alongside other leaders to advocate for LGBTQ+ healthcare rights, fighting for better healthcare policies and social services for LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly in the context of HIV/AIDS care.”
In a statement, Whitman-Walker Health said, “We have lost an incredible hero and absolute giant. Cornelius Baker led Whitman-Walker Health during a time when we needed him most. His tireless care for the people — the community — will be missed. Thank you for all that you have done, fearless leader. Rest well now.”
The Center for Black Equity, a D.C.-based LGBTQ advocacy organization, released a statement calling Baker “a trailblazing advocate whose dedication to health equity, especially for Black and LGBTQ+ communities, changed countless lives.” The statement adds, “Cornelius was a compassionate leader and mentor, an unwavering voice for justice, and a cherished friend to many. His passion, resilience, and commitment to equity in health and rights shaped policy, empowered communities, and uplifted those who needed it most.”
Schwartz, for whom Baker worked on her former D.C. Council staff, stated on her Facebook page that she considered Baker her dearest friend who she often thought of as her second son “for the extraordinary life he led and all the time, effort and love he gave to make the world a better place for all of us.” Schwartz added, “No one had a more brilliant mind or more giving heart.”
Baker was last seen by friends and former colleagues on Nov. 3, about a week before his passing, attending a D.C. reunion reception the Rainbow History Project held for the community leaders and activists, including Baker, it has designated as LGBTQ community pioneers.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately determine the cause of Baker’s death or whether plans were being made for funeral or memorial services.
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