Barclays Boss Staley and His Brother Embrace Change at AIDS Gala
- Jes Staley, activist brother Peter, and Bill Clinton honored
- Gay Men’s Health Crisis vows fight on health care, research
On March 24, 1987, HIV-positive Peter Staley, working on Wall Street like his brother Jes, stepped over the bodies at a die-in staged by ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. He was at the group’s next meeting, and in 1989, he chained himself to a balcony at the New York Stock Exchange with a banner reading "Sell Wellcome." Days later, Burroughs Wellcome lowered the price of the AIDS treatment AZT by 20 percent.
Jes Staley, now chief executive of Barclays, remembers that protest -- he was on JPMorgan’s equities desk at the time -- and can chart his own transformation as a banker standing up for gay rights and AIDS research, as well as the influence of his brother.