Anthony Hollins, who helped lead an HIV/AIDS ministry and founded the New Life Performance Company for young dancers, died Nov. 25 at Stroger Hospital.

Hollins was 42.

Hollins grew up on the far South Side and attended Rich South High School before going off to college at Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island. His love of theater and dance, however, soon drew him away from college.

In Chicago, he worked with the famed Giordano Dance Company before founding New Life. He also became an active leader in the HIV/AIDS ministry at Trinity United Church of Christ in the Brainerd neighborhood on the South Side.

Hollins planned to become an ordained minister in the UCC and earned a master of divinity degree last year at the Chicago Theological Seminary.

Last weekend, in Trinity’s weekly bulletin, its minister, the Rev. Reginald Williams Jr., praised Hollins and urged people to continue to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in his memory.

“Anthony’s voice was a trumpet around the nation calling for increased awareness, testing and justice with regard to those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS,” Williams said.

Hollins is survived by his mother, Bertha; his father, Arthur; three brothers, Andrel, Arthur Jr. and Aaron; and two sisters, Sasha and Kasie. Services were held at Trinity Dec. 1.