Walt Odets, the psychologist and author whose work focused on gay men living in the HIV/AIDS era, has died at 79, according to The Bay Area Reporter.
Odets was born in Los Angeles, the son of famed playwright Clifford Odets and actor Bette Grayson. He was educated at Wesleyan University and the Professional School of Psychology in San Francisco. He began practicing psychology in the Bay Area in 1987.
He published his first full-length book, In the Shadow of the Epidemic: Being HIV-Negative in the Age of AIDS, in 1995; it focused on the psychological impact of remaining HIV negative at a time when so many gay men were sick and dying of AIDS.
In 2019, he published his second book, Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men’s Lives, which explored how gay men form their identities in the HIV/AIDS era. “Though it could have been even more diverse in its presentation,” wrote a critic for Kirkus, “this is an encouraging and deeply compelling study of how gay men can build meaningful identities.” It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction.
Odets talked about Out of the Shadows in a 2019 interview with Kirkus, saying, “I wasn’t very keen on writing another book. When I see stigmatized people and see the roots of that stigma.…[it’s] painful to see, but it’s something I would like to help.”
Ed Wolf, a friend of Odets, told The Reporter, “A lot of people were impacted by his work, especially that first book.…He was a great individual, a great person, so generous. He took an interest in the gay male community.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
