The haunting image of David Kirby's death, taken by journalism student Therese Frare in 1990, became an iconic image of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that, by then, had seen as many as 12 million people infected.

David Kirby's mother, Kay, holds a photograph of her son before AIDS took its toll. Kirby was an AIDS activist born and raised in a small town in Ohio.

"I started taking photos there for a school project," Frare says in an interview with Life, "and got to know the staff and amazing people like Peta (above), who was volunteering and caring for David."

"I started taking photos there for a school project," Frare says in an interview with Life, "and got to know the staff and amazing people like Peta (above), who was volunteering and caring for David."

Kirby died not long after Frare began shooting at the hospice. She spent much more time, it turns out, with Peta, a caretaker who himself was HIV-positive. Frare photographed Peta over the course of two years, until he, too, died of AIDS.

As Peta's health deteriorated in early 1992 — as his HIV-positive status transitioned to AIDS — the Kirbys began to care for him, in much the same way that Peta had cared for their son in the final months of his life.

Editor Ben Cosgrove describes this image of Peta taken by Frare: It's just a masterful portrait of an obviously complex, strong individual."