Issan Dorsey was born as Tommy Dorsey Jr. in
Santa Barbara, California in 1933. He was raised as a
Catholic and was the youngest child of ten siblings. In 1980 (while Dorsey was director of SFZC) he became a member of The Gay Buddhist Club, which eventually became known as the
Hartford Street Zen Center (HSZC). Originally a discussion group for
gay Buddhists, the group eventually began sitting
zazen in the basement of one member's house at 57 Hartford Street. In 1987, Dorsey had created a
hospice (Maitri Hospice) within the Zen center on Hartford Street, serving primarily gay men who were dying of
AIDS. Eventually, Dorsey was made a
Sōtō priest by his teacher—
Zentatsu Richard Baker—installed as abbot of HSZC in 1989 and given the
Dharma name Issan (meaning "One-Mountain"). On September 6, 1990, Issan Dorsey died of complications linked to
AIDS. ==See also==