 One of his last projects was co-creating "Gay Men's Health Leadership Academies" to combat what he saw as a "pathology-focused understanding of gay men" in safe-sex education.Eric Rofes was born on August 31, 1954 and grew up in Commack, New York.He graduated from Harvard University and went on to receive a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1995, and a doctorate in social and cultural studies in 1998.