Death
Intensely private about his personal life, Bandy never revealed that he had contracted AIDS fearing the stigma of the disease would cost him work. When his health began to decline, he refused to see a doctor because he did not trust them. He instead opted for natural remedies (Bandy was known for his dedication to naturopathy and vegetarianism).
On August 6, 1986, Bandy was scheduled to do makeup for a photo shoot at Francesco Scavullo's studio. When Bandy arrived at the studio, he was too sick to work. Concerned about Bandy's deteriorating health, his agent called former Vogue editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella for advice. Mirabella contacted her husband, a doctor, who convinced Bandy to check into the hospital. Bandy relented and checked into NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (then named New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center).
Bandy died of AIDS-related pneumonia at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital on August 13, 1986. He was cremated and a memorial service was later held in Manhattan. His ashes, along with the ashes of his lover Michael Gardine who died in 1985, were later scattered in a pine forest in Key West, Florida by his friend and estate executor Maury Hopson.
Before his death, Bandy requested that his cause of death be identified as AIDS-related in his obituary. He also requested that no survivors be named.
Read more about this topic: Way Bandy
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“For in the word death
There is nothing to grasp; nothing to catch or claim;
Nothing to adapt the skill of the heart to, skill
In surviving, for death it cannot survive,
Only resign the irrecoverable keys.
The wave falters and drowns. The coulter of joy
Breaks. The harrow of death
Depends. And there are thrown up waves.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“There will be no lasting peace either in the heart of individuals or in social customs until death is outlawed.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“I’m beginning to believe that Killer Illiteracy ought to rank near heart disease and cancer as one of the leading causes of death among Americans. What you don’t know can indeed hurt you, and so those who can neither read nor write lead miserable lives, like Richard Wright’s character, Bigger Thomas, born dead with no past or future.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)