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

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

and

veganism Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a vega ...

, 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 patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

and vegan movements.

Early life

Berry was born on January 31, 1945, in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, and grew up in

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as "The Grove", is an affluent and the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods of Miami, neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by North Prospect Driv ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, where his mother and maternal siblings lived. He studied

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

archeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeolo ...

, and

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, and

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

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 human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He became vegetarian as a teenager and

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

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 studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

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

and later culinary history at

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...

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, the American Vegetarian Association, and historical advisor to the North American Vegetarian Society. He was an honored member of the American Vegan Society Speakers Bureau, and an 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 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

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 Mahavira (Devanagari: महावीर, ), also known as Vardhamana (Devanagari: वर्धमान, ), was the 24th ''Tirthankara'' (Supreme Preacher and Ford Maker) of Jainism. Although the dates and most historical details of his lif ...

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

and

Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...

, and Swami Prabhupada. A review published in Vegetarian Times, 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 common 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 wh ...

.Yee, Vivian. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 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 Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, 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, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, 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 North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

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
-

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 Animal rights scholars by nationality