Former “Real World: San Francisco” star and HIV/AIDS Activist Sean Sasser passed away at the age of 44.
According to MTV News, Sasser’s friend and fellow “Real World” cast mate Judd Winick made a predictive announcement of Sasser’s death on Tuesday via his Twitter page.
Our friend Sean Sasser has died. Our love goes out to his family & husband Michael. We will miss u so much. pic.twitter.com/2WsaChdcAQ
— Judd Winick. (@JuddWinick) August 8, 2013
Sasser rose to national fame back in the early ‘90s when he appeared on the third season of the groundbreaking reality TV series as the boyfriend to late cast member and fellow HIV activist Pedro Zamora. Sasser and Zamora were the first gay couple to be prominently featured on an MTV series and their on-screen marriage ceremony in the penultimate episode of the season still stands as one of the most landmark moments in TV history for LGBT people.
And like Zamora, Sasser also made history by sharing his HIV status on camera. Sasser had been living with the disease for 25 years before passing away on Wednesday from mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer that was diagnosed just last month.
At the time of his death, Sasser was living in Washington D.C. as a pastry chef with his longtime partner, Michael Kaplan, who runs the AIDS United non-profit group. MTV responded to Sasser’s death with a brief tweet.
RIP to a member of the @MTV family, groundbreaking Real World star + AIDS activist #seansasser https://t.co/YvUjC3LLJF via @MTVact
— MTV Communications (@MTVPress) August 8, 2013
Check out a list of other stars that we’ve lost to HIV/AIDS below. – nicholas robinson
