American writer and editor George Stambolian was BOTD in 1938. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Armenian immigrant parents, he studied at Dartmouth College and the University of Wisconsin, and became a lecturer in French literature at Wellesley College. In 1986 he edited Men on Men: Best New Fiction, a groundbreaking anthology of American gay male fiction, featuring contributions from prominent gay novelists including Edmund White, Ethan Mordden and Felice Picano. Three further anthologies followed, winning Stambolian a Lambda Literary Award in 1990 for Men on Men 3. A passionate advocate for gay writers, he argued for gay narratives be taken seriously as a distinct genre of American literature. He died in 1991 of an AIDS-related illness, aged 53, survived by his partner Michael Hampton. His final anthology, Men on Men 4, was published after his death.