Isaac Asimov died of AIDS... and we didn't know for ten years

In 1992 there was no Internet so for many it was a shock and a surprise to learn that Isaac Asimov just died. It was THAT sudden.

The real cause was hidden for some years until Asimov's wife, Janet, announced in her autobiography in 2002 that her husband had died of AIDS-related complications. Stanley, his son, announced that he had died of liver and heart failure, although in a eulogy written by Harlan Ellison for the Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, he claimed that his condition was known "for months" and that "did not make things better", so we knew there was a story behind.

By the time, AIDS was still sort of a social stigma, related to gay people (remember: the early 90's was a time when people was way more conservative than today even if it was just 25 years ago) and the family were worried that the condition would overshadow Asimov’s legacy as a writer and science communicator.

Back in 1977, he had a heart attack. He later contracted AIDS when he got a blood transfusion contaminated with HIV during a triple bypass operation in 1983.