Ron Woodroof
Ronald Dickson Woodroof was an American man who created what would become known as the Dallas Buyers Club in March 1988, one of several such AIDS buyers clubs that sprang up at the time. After learning he had contracted the human immunodeficiency virus in 1985 and being diagnosed with AIDS, he created the group as part of his efforts to find and distribute drugs to treat AIDS at a time when the disease was poorly understood.
He sued the United States Food and Drug Administration over a ban on peptide T, a drug he was using. Woodroof's final years became the basis of the 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club, in which he was portrayed by Matthew McConaughey.
Biography
Woodroof was born in Dallas, Texas, on February 3, 1950, to Garland Odell Woodroof and Willie Mae Hughes.His first marriage was to Mary Etta Pybus on June 28, 1969, in Dallas; they had a daughter. They divorced on March 23, 1972. On May 6, 1972, he married a woman named Rory S. Flynn in Dallas. They divorced on May 21, 1973. He then married Brenda Shari Robin on October 4, 1982, in Lubbock. They divorced on March 4, 1986, after he was diagnosed with HIV.
It was recorded that Woodroof had a mercurial personality. One reporter writes that "Woodroof took guns to his doctor’s office, prompting Steven Pounders to 'fire him as a patient.'" Woodroof later sent the doctor roses, and the doctor took him back. Woodroof was said to have lost all his friends after they found out he was HIV-positive. The movie Dallas Buyers Club depicts Woodroof as holding homophobic views prior to contracting HIV. Other people who knew Woodroof said that he did not harbor anti-gay beliefs and was openly bisexual. He was a member of the Dallas Gay Alliance.