McVeigh, Kevin

An anti-nuclear activist and HIV/AIDS advocate, Kevin McVeigh was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1944 and educated at Holy Cross College and Fordham University. At Fordham, he studied under the noted cultural historian Thomas Berry, receiving a graduate degree in comparative religions. During his University years, McVeigh became a committed political activist, joining the movement to oppose the Vietnam War and working for voter registration.

Although McVeigh pursued a standard academic career, taking teaching position in comparative religions at several universities, he recalls being unenthusiastic about the work. Living in California in the late 1970s, he abandoned the academy to take part in building the antinuclear and environmental movements. In 1978 he helped found the Pelican Alliance (an affiliate of the Abalone Alliance), a nonviolent civil disobedience organization opposing nuclear power plant construction and other industrial projects in the state, including the Rancho Seco reactor near Sacramento. Three years later, he co-founded Interhelp, a network of anti-nuclear activists and educators.

After relocating to western Massachusetts, McVeigh founded the Green River Center in 1987, an organization focused on anti-nuclear and environmental issues, but witnessing the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis, he shifted course. After founding the AIDS community Group of Franklin County, he was later hired by Tapestry Health to direct AIDS services in Greenfield, Massachusetts. As an HIV/AIDS advocate, McVeigh has also been involved with several related groups, including the Massachusetts HIV Prevention Planning Group and the Massachusetts Association of Title Two HIV Care Coordinators.