Obituary: Merwin Orner

The death of Merv Omer, after a long and debilitating illness. is a loss to the store of humanity and knowledge amongst socialists in the USA. Even before having Parkinson’s Disease, Merv was a man of few words, but they were always carefully chosen and relentlessly principled. Born in New York City in 1921, Merv was the son of WSPUS member Sam Orner, the man upon whom Clifford Odets based the character of Lefty in his famous play about the New York taxi drivers’ strike, Waiting for Lefty. In his time Merv was to become co-producer of North Jersey Playhouse in Fort Lee. He married our fine comrade Rena, who has won the quiet admiration of so many people, socialists and non-socialists, for her ceaseless years of loving caring for Merv combined with an extremely active life in which no social activity seems beyond her strength. To her and her three children we send our fraternal condolences.