Jim St. James

Jim Bozyk (1954–1990), known professionally as Jim St. James, was a Canadian actor and HIV/AIDS activist. He was best known as the star of a series of public service announcements on AIDS awareness which aired on Canadian television in the 1980s,

Background He was raised in rural Southern Ontario in a Jehovah's Witness family, Just two days after winning that award, he was first diagnosed HIV-positive.

Activism Following his diagnosis, he battled clinical depression for about a year before deciding in 1985 to get on with life, and renewed his commitment to both acting and HIV activism. During this era, he was commonly credited as Canada's longest-living survivor of the disease, and as the country's most prominent HIV/AIDS activist. During this era, he was also meeting regularly with Callwood in preparation for the book Jim: A Life with AIDS, which was published in fall 1988. At the time of his 1989 party, however, he was making plans to move into Casey House, Toronto's AIDS hospice, due to his declining health.

He died on March 24, 1990, at Casey House, just a few weeks short of his 36th birthday.