Quick Facts
Biography
Alan Selby (1929–2004) was a gay businessman and leader in the San Francisco leather community.Known by the nickname "the Mayor of Folsom Street", Selby was the founder of the fetish clothing manufacturer Mr. S Leather.
Selby was born Alan Henry Sniders in 1929 in England. He made his first trip to San Francisco in 1969, and moved there permanently in 1979 to found Mr. S Leather. Following the death of his lover Peter Jacklin, Selby became a prominent figure in the community response against the AIDS epidemic. He died in 2004 from emphysema at the age of 75.
In 2013 Selby was posthumously inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame.
In 2017 Selby was honored along with other notables, named on bronze bootprints, as part of San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley.
In 2019 an exhibition at the GLBT Historical Society Museum celebrated Selby's life and legacy.