By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

A local foundation that funds social and economic justice causes is benefiting from a bequest of about $400,000 left by a gay activist who died earlier this year.

Ferd Eggan, who died July 7 in Los Angeles at age 60, left the bequest to the Crossroads Fund, a 25-year-old public foundation based in Chicago that specializes in funding smaller, grassroots groups. Recent Crossroads grantees include Amigas Latinas, Affinity Community Services, the Coalition for Education on Sexual Orientation (now the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance) and Beyondmedia Education.

Eggan was a longtime Chicago activist, from his days as a member of the Gay Liberation Front in the 1960s to co-founding DAGMAR, Chicago’s first HIV/AIDS activist group. He was also instrumental in founding Chicago’s ACT UP chapter and helped lead the first AIDS demonstration in the Loop in April 1988, the “Target CTA” action in May 1989 and the marches, vigils and civil disobedience protests at the National Actions for Healthcare in Chicago in April 1990 that resulted in the opening of the AIDS ward at Cook County Hospital to women.

From 1979 to 1990, Eggan also taught history and served as principal at Escuela Superior Puertorriqueña Pedro Albizu Campos, a project of the Don Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Humboldt Park.

In 1990 Eggan moved to Los Angeles and served as executive director of Being Alive, an organization for people living with HIV/AIDS, and was active in ACT UP/L.A. From 1993 to 2001 he was AIDS coordinator for the city of Los Angeles.

Eggan was also a prolific writer and experimental filmmaker. His “The Continuing Story of Carel and Ferd,” broadcast on PBS from 1971-73, has been called the first reality show on television.

Crossroads officials said last week that Eggan’s gift would make a difference.

“This is the largest unrestricted gift from an individual that Crossroads Fund has ever received,” said Crossroads Executive Director Jeanne Kracher. “This gift means so much to us coming from a person who had a lifelong commitment to the kinds of complex issues we fund. Ferd’s contributions to progressive movements in Chicago and beyond are countless. He challenged all of us when he said, ‘We should examine our own desires and acknowledge that we have settled for too little.’”

Friends of Ferd Eggan host a celebration of his life and times Oct. 21, 2-5 p.m., at Café Batey Urbano, 2620 W. Division Street. For more information call (773) 227-7676. To find out more about Crossroads Fund, visit www.crossroadsfund.org. More about Ferd Eggan can be found at www.ferdeggan.net.