Larry Kessler is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The son of George and Rose (Rodgers) Kessler, Larry Kessler grows up in Pittsburgh, briefly attend’s St. Marks Seminary, and comes to Boston to run the peace and justice office at the Paulist Center in 1979. He helps expand the Walk for Hunger, co-founds the Aids Action Committee, and is a founding member of the National Aids Network. “Larry found a way to not just do good . . .[but] to create institutions to continue the work,” recalled his friend James Carroll. Kessler meets Dana Ellsmore in 1989, they marry in 2021, and are longtime residents of Hyde Park. Kessler dies in Dedham on February 1, 2024.