Friends and co-workers shared their memories of Stephen Mendelsohn, who was remembered as an advocate, and a highly intelligent and religious man.

By Ronni Newton

The pedestrian who was struck and killed on New Britain Avenue near the intersection with South Main Street on Sunday, June 1, was memorialized Wednesday afternoon at a vigil organized by Bike West Hartford.

New Britain resident Stephen Mendelson, 63, was remembered as a “passionate advocate, a fierce intellect and a deeply committed member of the disability rights community,” said Bike West Hartford board member Katie Lance. Mendelsohn was fatally struck by a 28-year-old Bristol woman who was driving westbound on New Britain Avenue just after 9:45 p.m. on Sunday, June 1.

“Ghost shoes,” flowers, and a heart have been affixed to a utility pole near the site of the crash to commemorate the loss.

Lance said despite its name, the Bike West Hartford organization is a “local volunteer-led nonprofit advocating for safer streets for everyone,” and that although the incident is still being investigated, any fatality or serious injury on the town’s roads is one too many.

A moment of silence was observed for Mendelsohn, and Lance invited anyone in attendance to share their thoughts.

Friends and a former co-worker shed some light on just who Mendelsohn was, and why he was walking in the New Britain Avenue area late Sunday night – on the way to an all-night learning session as part of the observance of Shavuot.

Sara Wentworth, who worked with Mendelsohn at Travelers for the past several years, said he was a “very, very nice person,” and she and her co-workers will miss him very much. “This is a tragedy that never should have happened.”

West Hartford resident Ilana Bernstein told We-Ha.com that Mendelsohn was a member of Young Israel West Hartford, and a close family friend. “I personally have known him since I was a kid,” she said, growing up in Manchester and attending the same synagogue as Mendelsohn.

Bernstein said Mendelsohn often made the walk from his apartment in New Britain, which she said was near Costco, to Young Israel, which is located in the Bishops Corner area at 2240 Albany Avenue. It would take him several hours.

“Often he would stay with people, but sometimes he didn’t want to burden people, he didn’t really know how to ask. He didn’t have those social skills,” she said of Mendelsohn, who has described himself as autistic in testimony to the state legislature.

Mendelsohn did drive, Bernstein told We-Ha.com, “but he was very proud of the fact that he didn’t drive unless it was absolutely necessary. And he was happy to walk.” She said he planned to walk to the synagogue that night, spend the rest of the night studying, and likely enjoy a holiday meal with other members, staying in the area for the rest of the two-day observance. “There was a communal barbecue scheduled on Tuesday at the synagogue, so he would stay at a friend’s house there.”

Mendelsohn had a very special place in the Jewish community, Bernstein said. “He had gifts that many people couldn’t see, but I think that his passing is a moment for us to really look past the things that we see naturally.”

Peter Wolfgang said he had known Mendelsohn for about 15 years, and held up his phone so the crowd could see a photo of them together. Wolfgang said he’s Catholic, but has “never met a more devout faithful man” than Mendelsohn, who was one of the holiest people he ever knew.

“He was a fearless advocate at the state legislature just as a citizen, as a citizen activist … for multiple causes,” and was well known to those at the state Capitol. While he identified as a person with disabilities, and as a high-functioning autistic man, Wolfgang said, “the absolute center of his life was his absolute commitment to God.”

Wolfgang said that the state is a better place thanks to Mendelsohn’s 15 years of service and advocacy. “Thank you for putting on this vigil, and I pray for your cause that we do have  safety – traffic safety and pedestrian safety here in the [Town of] West Hartford that sadly claimed the life of my friend Stephen Mendelsohn.”

Bike West Hartford has organized vigils following other fatal pedestrian crashes in town – most recently in December 2024 following the late-November death of Anne Rapkin on Sedgwick Road – and as has become the custom, board members read aloud the names of other pedestrians who have also lost their lives.

There were three pedestrian fatalities in 2024, and Jason Wang, Tracey Frankel, and Ethan Frankel, along with Lance recalled their names. In addition to Rapkin, on Nov. 8, 87-year-old Patricia Brulotte was struck by a car on Oakwood Avenue near St. James Street. She died the following day as a result of those injuries. In January, 80-year-old David Goldfarb  sustained fatal injuries when he was crossing Albany Avenue near Mohegan Drive.

The names of three pedestrians who were struck and killed in 2022 were also read aloud: Carlos Garlaza, 60, killed by a driver while assisting a person at the corner of Mohegan Drive and Carlyle Road on Dec. 21; Eugenia Yurovsky, 89, killed in a hit and run while walking across Boulevard at Whiting Lane on Dec. 20; and Bob Oneal, age 61, killed by a driver while standing on the sidewalk on the corner of Farmington Avenue and Main Street on June 3.

“We call on everyone to move with us from this moment in silence and remembrance to a moment of action,” Lance said, noting that the Town of West Hartford has officially embraced the principles of Vision Zero. “This means that rather than accepting so-called traffic accidents as a routine part of life, we can commit to taking proactive and preventative steps to stopping these senseless tragedies. Together we can do more,” she said, prioritizing traffic safety as a public health issue, “and by doing so affirm that every life matters.”

Ethan Frankel thanked those who attended and urged everyone to work together to make the town’s streets safer. “We’ve got to stop having these vigils. We’ve got to stop having these tragedies,” he said.

The town is currently working on dozens of measures to improve road safety for all users, including quick build and long-term projects, as part of its Vision Zero Action Plan which has the ultimate goal of completely eliminating fatalities and severe injuries within a 10-year period, by 2033.

Earlier this year the Town Council received its first Vision Zero Annual Report.

Town Manager Rick Ledwith responded to reporters’ questions at the vigil, noting that New Britain Avenue is a state road, and the state controls the intersection, and would need to be part of any changes made to that roadway.

Ledwith said that in addition to the other Vision Zero measures being implemented, automated speed enforcement cameras and red light cameras will be part of the town’s efforts to improve traffic safety.

The town has already received a $669,007 federal Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant for the speed management pilot program, which will begin this year. Cameras will be installed at 15 locations throughout town once the final plan is approved by CTDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.

West Hartford also received a nearly $3.2 million SS4A grant in 2024 for a “Vulnerable User Safety Program” that includes an 18-month automated red light camera enforcement program at eight intersections in town, as well as other quick-build and permanent safety improvements to sidewalks and roadways. Like many federal programs that grant had been put into limbo but the town recently learned that it is in the process of being approved.

In April, the Town Council adopted an ordinance that will permit automated traffic enforcement in town – a necessary step in implementing the measures which the police chief calls “force multipliers” and a proactive step which supports the town’s Vision Zero goals.

Plans to convene a Vision Zero task force were first announced on Christmas Day in 2022, just hours after a two-car crash on Simsbury Road at 6:49 a.m. resulted in the death of three occupants of the vehicles despite lifesaving efforts by emergency responders. In just over a week during December 2022, a total of five people had lost their lives as a result of several unrelated motor vehicle collisions in West Hartford, and another person was seriously injured. An incident in June 2022 had resulted in the death of a pedestrian in West Hartford Center, bringing the total number of traffic fatalities in West Hartford for 2022 to six, three of whom were pedestrians.

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