Anagnos, Alexander G

Alex was the inpatient psychiatry nurse manager for several years at CPMC, at the 2323 Sacramento Street facility. The medical director at that time was Patrick Buchanan. Patrick died of AIDS in 1986. Those times were fraught with sorrow. Many colleagues became ill and later died. The first AIDS patients were admitted with serious symptoms, including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and dementia. Alex was a beautiful man of Greek ancestry; he was handsome, witty and kind. He went through all the anxieties we as a community experienced at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. He continued to contribute to society until the end.

When I was hired at the inpatient psychiatry unit at CPMC, on 2323 Sacramento Street, in late 1980, there were three openly gay men managing the unit: Alex, the nursing manager, Patrick Buchanan, the medical director, and Bill Valentine, the social work director. All of them have obituaries in this obituary database. Working on Unit 23 (adult psychiatry) and Unit 23C (geriatric psychiatry) was the most gay-supportive work environment I experienced in over 40 years of employment, in many different professions and settings. I owe the three of them so much!