Rynn Berry (January 31, 1945 – January 9, 2014) was an American author and

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...

on vegetarianism and

veganism Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet (nutrition), diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is kn ...

, as well as a pioneer in the

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...

and vegan movements.

Early life

Berry was born on January 31, 1945, in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, and grew up in

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, S ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, where his mother and maternal siblings lived. He studied

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, archeology, and classics at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, and

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

and

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He became vegetarian as a teenager and

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

at the age of 21. He became a rawfooder in 1994.It's Easier To Be Green
the New York Times, 2001-04-08

Career

Berry taught

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates unde ...

and later culinary history at New School for Social Research in New York City. He was a scholar of vegetarian history, and wrote a number of books, plays, and other works on this subject. Richard H. Schwartz, founder of Jewish Veg, called his fourth book, the 2004 work, ''Hitler: Neither Vegetarian Nor Animal Lover'' (with an introduction by Lantern Books's co-founder Martin Rowe) a "thoughtful and carefully documented book." A frequent international lecturer, Berry's books have been translated into many languages, and he was locally and internationally known in the vegan community. Berry also wrote the entry on the history of vegetarianism in America for the '' Oxford Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink'' (2004), edited by Andrew Smith, and he was commissioned to write seven entries for ''The Oxford Companion to Food and Drink in America'' (2007). He was also a playwright who contributed a number of short plays about 'famous vegetarians in history'. He wrote a chapter on the history of the raw food movement for ''Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets''. He was also on the advisory boards of

EarthSave John Robbins (born October 26, 1947) is an American author, who popularized the links among nutrition, environmentalism, and animal rights. He is the author of the 1987 ''Diet for a New America'', an exposé on connections between diet, physica ...

, the American Vegetarian Association, and historical advisor to the North American Vegetarian Society. He was an honored member of the

American Vegan Society The American Vegan Society (AVS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes veganism in the United States. It was founded in 1960 by H. Jay Dinshah. The date of the earlier The Vegan Society (UK)'s founding, November 1, is now cele ...

Speakers Bureau, instructor at Victoria Moran's Main Street Academy. Berry also contributed to the animal rights movement in Brazil, where he frequently lectured both in English (with a translator) and in Portuguese.

Famous Vegetarians

One of Berry's most notable works, ''Famous Vegetarians and Their Favorite Recipes: Lives and Lore from Buddha to the Beatles'', is a collection of biographical sketches of famous people who were vegetarians at some point in their lives. Each chapter also contains an illustration of each of the famous vegetarians profiled, followed by some of their favorite recipes. For the

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

chapter, he translated for the first time into English recipes from ''De Honesta Voluptate'' by Bartolomeo Platina.''Vegetarian Times'', Fev 1991, p. 76. The first edition of the book was published in 1989 by Panjandrum Books. In 1995, Pythagorean Publishers released a revised edition with three additional chapters covering Mahavira,

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

and

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

, and Swami Prabhupada. A review published in

Vegetarian Times ''Vegetarian Times'' is an American publication focused on food, culture, health and lifestyle for vegetarians, vegans, and all people interested in plant-based eating. ''Vegetarian Times'' promotes an eco-friendly lifestyle with recipes, and he ...

, considered ''Famous Vegetarians'' "scholarship at the end of a fork – and for writing it, he deserves an 'A'." In ''Religious Vegetarianism: From Hesiod to the Dalai Lama'', Kerry S. Walters and Lisa Portmess said that Berry's book is "a twentieth-century parallel" to Howard Williams's classic '' The Ethics of Diet''. In his book ''The Vegetarian Revolution'', Giorgio Cerquetti recommended "everybody to read Rynn Berry's excellent book."Giorgio Cerquetti, ''The Vegetarian Revolution: Commentary and Cookbook'', Torchlight Publishing, 1997, () p. viii.

Death and legacy

Berry lived alone in an apartment in Prospect Park. He was an enthusiastic amateur runner, despite having

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...

.Yee, Vivian. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', January 9, 2013,
Jogger Found Unconscious in a Park Dies, but Not Before Being Identified
. He was found collapsed and unconscious in jogging clothes in Prospect Park in the Prospect Heights section of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, on December 31, 2013, but not identified until January 7, 2014. The only clues in his pockets were "keys and an asthma inhaler". Braunstein, Mark Mathew, 2014 (Spring), "Tribute to Rynn Berry", ''Vegetarian Voice'' He never regained consciousness and died at 12:30 pm on January 9, 2014. Martin Rowe, author and co-founder of Lantern Books, commented on Berry's death:

"Rynn's impact was literally incalculable, given how many met him, bought his books, or talked with him at the Union Square green market over the many years. He was the epitome of the kind of unheralded grassroots activist without which any movement for change cannot grow, and he was a witty and erudite figure: the Dr. Johnson of the vegetarian movement. He would be missed greatly, even by those who never met him, but his work will live on."

Author Chef Fran Costigan wrote that Berry was "a gentle soul whose life touched so many." His life was celebrated publicly and outdoors on March 30, 2014, for about thirty minutes, at the annual Veggie Pride Parade in New York City. On July 5, 2014, he was honored at the annual NAVS Vegetarian Summerfest in Johnstown,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in a plenary led by vegan activist and author Victoria Moran. In previous years, Berry had been on the staff of Vegetarian Summerfest as a scholar and speaker on veganism and world religions. “The Rynn Berry Jr. Papers” are housed in the North Carolina State University Libraries’ Special Collections and Research Center.

Bibliography of published writings

* ''The Vegetarians'', Autumn Press, 1979. * ''The New Vegetarians'' (updated edition of his previous book, with William Shurtleff interview instead of Marty Feldman's), Chestnut Ridge, New York, Townhouse Press, 1988 ; Pythagorean Publishers, 1993. * * ''Food for the Gods: Vegetarianism & the World's Religions'', Pythagorean Publishers, 1998. * ''Hitler: Neither Vegetarian Nor Animal Lover'' (with an introduction by Martin Rowe) Pythagorean Publishers, 2004. * "Veganism," article in ''The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink'', Oxford University Press, 2007
pp. 604–605
* ''Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets'' (with Brenda Davis & Vesanto Melina), Book Publishing Company, 2010. *
The Vegan Guide to New York City
' (with Chris A. Suzuki & Barry Litsky), Ethical Living, 2013 (20th edition).

References

External links

Guide to the Rynn Berry Jr. Papers 1896-2016
- North Carolina State University Libraries’ Special Collections and Research Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Rynn 1945 births 2014 deaths American animal rights activists American biographers American food writers American historians American male biographers Historians of vegetarianism American veganism activists American vegetarianism activists Raw foodists Writers from Florida Writers from Hawaii Writers from New York (state) Writers from Pennsylvania