Pioneering writer Edmund White has died. He was one of the most important authors of his era, whose work, including A Boy's Own Story in 1982, made an indelible impression on gay culture and how LGBTQ experiences were more broadly understood during the dawning of the AIDS crisis and beyond. He was also one of the founders of the Gay Men's Health Crisis in 1982, the long-running HIV/Aids service organization in New York City.

White died Tuesday at his home in New York City of natural causes, according to his agent Bill Clegg. He was 85 years old.

Growing up in Evanston, Ill., White was sent to see psychologists by his mother, who was a child psychologist herself.

"It was because I was gay," he told WHYY's Fresh Air in 2006. "On the one hand, I was lusting after boys my own age and

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