Coming off of a 30-year career in education, during which time he was a charismatic high school coach and principal in Los Altos and superintendent in Lassen County—while also serving as president of his local Rotary Club—Dude Angius cut an imposing figure. But in 1989, his idyllic life swerved abruptly following the illness and death of his son Steve from AIDS.
He fought off grief and depression and became an outspoken advocate for AIDS awareness at a time when taboos had shrouded the disease in fear, ignorance and revulsion. He enlisted conservative, sometimes reluctant Rotarians in an AIDS project that expanded to become international in scope. He encouraged the creation of a video documenting Steve’s death and the previously unknown AIDS crises of other well-known Los Altos citizens. Shown on network television and at Rotary gatherings worldwide, The Los Altos Story won a 1990 Peabody and an ACE award.
Dushan “Dude” Angius, ’50, MA ’51, died January 7 in Walnut Creek, Calif. He was 88.
As reported in the Rotarian, Angius described what he felt when he first disclosed his son’s struggle to Los Altos Rotary Club members: “I got up and spoke, and really I’m kind of amazed that I didn’t choke up when I mentioned Steve’s name. . . . When I told everyone that I had a son who had AIDS, there was a collective gasp. Guys like me don’t have kids who get AIDS. That was the perception. So, yeah, I guess I shocked them.” The revelation spurred others in town to make their own confessions. For many, AIDS was no longer a remote plague with victims to be shunned.
Richard Henning, a friend since the early 1960s, recalled hearing Angius tell his story as keynote speaker at the 1992 Rotary International convention in Orlando, Fla. “There were more than 20,000 Rotarians in the vast auditorium. You could have heard a pin drop. When he concluded, he got a rousing, sustained, standing ovation. This was a groundbreaking moment. The stigma of AIDS among those Rotarians no longer existed.”
Marlene Cowan, president of the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project, was one of about 250 people who attended the Celebration of Life in February. Many there recalled having been “Duded” over the years—passionately persuaded by Angius to support the project, Cowan said. “We all have tremendous esteem for Dude and his courage,” she added. “He was a wonderfully warm and dedicated person with an agenda.”
Mike Angius said recently, “Dad always told us that if you’re not prepared to give 100 percent to any given task, don't take it on. Then we saw him live that.”
He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Barbara; children Toni Angius-Byrne, Dan, Mike and Bob; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
John Roemer is a freelance writer based in Sausalito, Calif.
