Comedian Danny Williams, formerly of San Francisco, died of a staph infection in a Maryland hospital on November 4, 2014 according to the Bay Area Reporter. He was 62.

Williams was a well-known Bay Area comedian who generously donated his time and talent for numerous AIDS-related fundraisers. He emceed the AIDS Emergency Fund’s monthly “Basket Contest” at The Edge for nearly 15 years, even after moving to Palm Springs in 2000 with his husband, Brian Moser, until the contest was retired in 2006 when the bar failed to get an entertainment permit. (The bar, now under new ownership, secured the permit in 2012.)

He was born in New Orleans on October 23, 1952 to deeply religious Pentecostal parents, but was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where he graduated from Arcadia High School and then attended Arizona State University at the same time as Lynda Carter. At 17, his parents institutionalized him to try to cure his homosexuality, where he was given electroshock therapy. He moved to San Francisco when he turned 18.

In 1982, while working as a hospital administrator at UCSF Medical Center at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, he decided to try his hand at stand-up comedy. His first appearance was at the Valencia Rose on his 30th birthday, then hosted by Tom Ammiano (soon to be termed out as a State Assembly Member) and Lea DeLaria (Orange is the New Black), and he was an instant hit. He went back every week to hone his craft, speaking extemporaneously and ad-libbing without the aid of note cards.

By 1986, he was able to quit his day job to work fulltime at his comedy, and in 1989 he began a 22-year career working as Master of Ceremonies and Cruise Director for RSVP Cruises. He and his husband went on hundreds of cruises, where he was able to perform with celebrities like Joan Rivers, Michael Feinstein, Harvey Fierstein, and more.

Williams and Moser moved to Palm Springs in 2000 where Williams worked as a Realtor during his down time. They had a commitment ceremony in 2003 and were legally married in 2008. They moved to Maryland in January of 2014. Williams had been on disability since 2012 from progressive nerve damage.

A memorial for Danny Williams will be held at Beatbox, 314 11th Street, on Sunday, December 7, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. A reception will be held immediately afterwards at 440 Castro, where donations in his memory can be made to the AIDS Emergency Fund and the Positive Resource Center.