The unidentified jogger who languished for days in a Park Slope hospital before being identified by his half brother has died. Rynn Berry, 68, was taken off life support yesterday, ten days after he collapsed while jogging in Prospect Park on New Year's Eve. He had gone into cardiac arrest when first responders came to his aid on the afternoon of the 31st, and he quickly lost brain function, the Times reports. He remained in a coma until his death.
Berry was an avid jogger and trailblazing vegan often seen at the Union Square Greenmarket, where he sold his self-published book The Vegan Guide to New York City. He became raw foodist in 1994, and some in the vegan movement saw him as an elder statesman. "He’s always been a pioneer in that regard, writing about veganism when most people weren’t that interested in and didn’t know about it," his longtime friend Martin Rowe told the Times. Last week Berry was to be the keynote speaker at a conference on vegetarianism in Brazil.
Berry, who lived alone in Prospect Heights, was only carrying his keys and his asthma inhaler when he collapsed. After the NYPD distributed a photo of Berry in his hospital bed, his half brother Charles Berry, a partner at Arnold & Porter in Manhattan, came forward. Because of his loss of brain function, the decision was made to take him off life support yesterday. The Daily News reports that Berry was surrounded by family and friends at the time of death. “It’s shocking to lose him in such a dramatic way,” Rowe told the News. “I will miss his tone of voice, his wit and his humor.”
