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Hein, Marc A. (July 18, 1949-March 30, 1993)

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: July 18, 1949 - March 30, 1993

Biography

Marc A. Hein was born July 18, 1949 in Lawrence, Kansas. He lived in the Kansas City area most of his life, attending Rockhurst High School, from which he was graduated in 1967. After graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in architecture, he later became a registered architect in the state of Missouri, and was a member of the American Institute of Architects. He served on the boards of the Kansas City Design Excellence Awards in 1992, and of The Whole Person, Inc. in 1982-84.

Hein was also very active in the Kansas City gay community. He was a member of the Heartland Men’s Chorus in 1989-90, of ACT-UP KC, and from 1989-1993 worked within GALA, Gay and Lesbian Awareness, an organization whose goal was to raise awareness of and pride within the gay and lesbian community. One of his first goals as a GALA member was to revive the Kansas City Pride Parade. He put together 300 marchers in 1990, growing to over 1,200 the next year, and by 1992 it was the only parade in the United States to span two states. As a result of these visible efforts, he was appointed to the Mayor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Concerns in 1991.

In 1988 Hein was diagnosed with AIDS. After his first AIDS-related sick leave, he was fired from his architect job in 1989. This enabled him to spend time on his GALA-related activities, and freed him to express himself in print. He regularly submitted letters to the editor in The Alternate News, Kansas City’s primary gay and lesbian community publication at the time, and the magazine eventually gave him his own column. This was followed by a column in a competing magazine, The Current News, for which he wrote “On the Other Hand” through 1992.

Hein maintained a positive yet realistic attitude after his diagnosis. A long-distance runner most of his life, he continued to run marathons after learning of his illness. He trained for the 1990 Gay Games, held in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was the only person with AIDS to ever complete a marathon in the Games. He also planned to run in the 1994 New York Gay Games.

Marc Hein succumbed to AIDS on March 30, 1993. He was 43.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Marc Hein Collection

 Collection
Identifier: MS-0179
Scope and Contents The Marc Hein Collection was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections in July, 2010 by his sister, Louanne Hein. The collection features a variety of writing by Hein, including samples of his two published columns, a myriad of correspondence, and two diaries. He kept three separate scrapbooks: one of his writing; one featuring his Pride-related activities; and one documenting his Gay Games experience. The collection also contains an array of newspaper and magazine clippings, detailing...
Dates: 1977 - 1994