AIR MAIL envelope addressed to Dvid Wojnarowicz in Germany with photo booth self-portrait of his partner Tom Rauffenbart
Tom Rauffenbart and David Wojnarowicz met at the Bijou Theatre on New Year’s Day, 1986, and were immediately smitten with one another. Two days later, they had their first date on the beaches of Robert Moses Park on Fire Island.
“Their relationship was immediate, passionate, and intense,” explains Anita Vitale (Tom’s best friend and co-worker at the New York City Child Welfare Administration). “Tom had found the love of his life and David found a home in Tom.”
Tom and David traveled frequently to New Orleans, Mexico and The U.S. Virgin Islands.
After the death of David’s mentor, photographer Peter Hujar, David and Tom dove into activism together—participating in ACT UP meetings and demonstrations in New York and Washington.
Tom tested positive for HIV in late 1987 and David in early 1988. Despite working full-time and managing his own health, Tom took loving care of David at the end of his life— arranging nursing care in his 2nd Avenue loft and welcoming David’s friends and family to spend time with him.
Tom went on to manage David’s estate, place his papers with the Downtown Collection at Fales Library & Special Collections at New York University, and facilitate David’s 2018 retrospective at the Whitney Museum. A longtime AIDS survivor, Tom died in 2019.
Listen to Tom Rauffenbart share more memories of his partner, David in the audio clips below.
