Harry Wieder

"You weren’t done talking to Harry until he was done talking to you," New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said of Harry Wieder in a eulogy. The 57-year-old activist and son of Holocaust survivors spent most of his time attending community meetings, calling and writing elected officials and organizing campaigns about LGBT, disabled, and housing rights.

On his Facebook, Mr. Wider described himself as a "disabled, gay, Jewish, leftist, middle aged dwarf who ambulates with crutches."

Harry Wieder, a previous resident of the East Village neighborhood of New York City, began his activist career in the 1980's as a member of the vocal activist group Act-Up! and was profiled in Betty Adelsen’s 2005 book, The Lives of Dwarfs: Their Journey from Public Curiosity Toward Social Liberation. Mr. Wiedler continued to lose his hearing as time passed, but had been known to attend up to 8 meetings a day advocating. He was buried on April 30, 2010 after being struck by a taxi leaving a meeting of Community Board 3.

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