In the rose garden and the BBG in 1995.

James “Jim” Brudner was a city plan­ner, activist, jour­nal­ist and pho­tog­ra­pher. Born in Queens, New York in 1961, Jim attended Stuyvesant High School before grad­u­at­ing from Yale in 1983 with a degree in American Studies ; involved in the­atre as a high school stu­dent, he con­tin­ued with those inter­ests while at Yale. Jim’s senior the­sis was titled “The Moses Method Denied: Robert Moses Meets Green­wich Vil­lage" and his love for cities and urban­ism guided him through­out his life. After mov­ing back to New York, Jim began a series of jobs work­ing in plan­ning and city gov­ern­ment, includ­ing the Depart­ment of Hous­ing Preser­va­tion and Devel­op­ment and the Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion.

Jim’s iden­ti­cal twin, Eric Adam Brudner, was a tal­ented jazz musi­cian and com­poser; he died of AIDS-related ill­ness in 1987. Fol­low­ing Eric’s death, Jim became an active member of ACT UP and the Treat­ment Action Group. He also began to write, com­plet­ing a MA in Jour­nal­ism at New York Uni­ver­sity, and writ­ing pieces about gay par­ent­ing, AIDS activism and other sub­jects for The Forward and The New York Times. An avid out­doors­man and trav­eler, Jim cap­tured the rural, chang­ing land­scapes he vis­ited in his pho­tog­ra­phy, to which, later in his life, he devoted much of his time; in 1997 an exhi­bi­tion of his work was held at LaMama Gallery in New York. In his artist’s statement , he wrote: “As a result of our belief in eco­nomic growth at all costs, our world grows a lit­tle uglier with each pass­ing year. The days of many of my pho­to­graphic sub­jects are num­bered. My work is a pho­to­graphic record of an ear­lier world our sys­tem no longer seems to value.”

Jim Brud­ner died of AIDS-related ill­ness on Sep­tem­ber 18, 1998. He estab­lished an annual prize at Yale Uni­ver­sity that hon­ors indi­vid­u­als who have “made sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to the under­stand­ing of LGBT issues or fur­thered the tol­er­ance of LGBT peo­ple.”

James “Jim” Brudner (1961 - 1998) was a city plan­ner, activist, jour­nal­ist and pho­tog­ra­pher. Born in Queens, New York in 1961, Jim attended Stuyvesant High School before grad­u­at­ing from Yale in 1983 with a degree in American Studies ; involved in the­atre as a high school stu­dent, he con­tin­ued with those inter­ests while at Yale. Jim’s senior the­sis was titled “The Moses Method Denied: Robert Moses Meets Green­wich Vil­lage" and his love for cities and urban­ism guided him through­out his life. After mov­ing back to New York, Jim began a series of jobs work­ing in plan­ning and city gov­ern­ment, includ­ing the Depart­ment of Hous­ing Preser­va­tion and Devel­op­ment and the Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion.

Jim’s iden­ti­cal twin, Eric, was a tal­ented jazz musi­cian and com­poser; he died of AIDS-related ill­ness in 1987. Fol­low­ing Eric’s death, Jim became an active member of ACT UP and the Treat­ment Action Group. He also began to write, com­plet­ing a MA in Jour­nal­ism at New York Uni­ver­sity, and writ­ing pieces about gay par­ent­ing, AIDS activism and other sub­jects for The Forward and The New York Times. An avid out­doors­man and trav­eler, Jim cap­tured the rural, chang­ing land­scapes he vis­ited in his pho­tog­ra­phy, to which, later in his life, he devoted much of his time; in 1997 an exhi­bi­tion of his work was held at LaMama Gallery in New York. In his artist’s statement , he wrote: “As a result of our belief in eco­nomic growth at all costs, our world grows a lit­tle uglier with each pass­ing year. The days of many of my pho­to­graphic sub­jects are num­bered. My work is a pho­to­graphic record of an ear­lier world our sys­tem no longer seems to value.”

Jim Brud­ner died of AIDS-related ill­ness on Sep­tem­ber 18, 1998. He estab­lished an annual prize at Yale Uni­ver­sity that hon­ors indi­vid­u­als who have “made sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to the under­stand­ing of LGBT issues or fur­thered the tol­er­ance of LGBT peo­ple.”