RICHARD C. FAILLA

Judge and AIDS Activist

Richard C. Failla, 53, the first openly gay person elected to the New York State Supreme Court and vice president of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, died April 11 at a hospital in New York. He had AIDS.

Judge Failla, a New York native and Columbia University law school graduate, was a former prosecutor. In 1985, he was appointed to a Criminal Court judgeship by New York Mayor Edward Koch, then won an uncontested election to the state Supreme Court, a trial court in New York state, in 1988.

When the AIDS epidemic arose, Judge Failla joined the board of directors of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the world's first private AIDS agency. He later became its vice president.