from Rod Kessler …

On 19 March I attended the memorial potluck event for John Berlow, held in Lehman Hall, a fitting location for the one-time Dudley House member. Over forty people came, including John's sister, brother, and other family members. Also represented were acquaintances from John's anti-war radical days at Harvard, individuals associated with John's more recent Green Vietnam work, and Harvard classmates, including event organizer Nate Goldshlag, Charlie Bering, Tom Barron, Christy Day, Paul Harris, and Chuck McCormack. Also on hand were near-classmates Sarah Glazer and Judy Kauffman Baker, both '70. The highlight of the event was the recollections shared about John.

This is the start of a Harvard Magazine piece about John (May-June 2010):

Expelled from Harvard in 1969 for participating in the University Hall takeover, John Berlow ’71 traveled the world, living in Israel, Canada, and West Africa. But he did not go to Vietnam until 2000. “In ’69 I was an angry young man,” he says. “I am not very young or very angry now, but I still feel impassioned, and Vietnam has become my home. It was important to me then and still is.”

In 2002, he began teaching English at the Vietnam Friendship Village, near Hanoi, which houses military veterans and young people with mental deficiencies caused by Agent Orange, the herbicide used by the U.S. army in the Vietnam War. There he was struck by the lack of easy access to fruits and vegetables free of pesticide residue, and saw a need for environmentally sensitive development in the area.

He also met Vuong Ngoc Quang, one of the few local farmers who spoke English, who helped him learn Vietnamese. Berlow was impressed by Quang’s agricultural expertise and shared his ideas for healthier crops. Together they started the Organic Gardening Project in 2005 to plant gardens and orchards that would provide uncontaminated produce for residents and staff at the Friendship Village. Their efforts attracted support from volunteers and donors as well as media attention: a Hanoi TV special on the project dubbed Berlow “Mr. Clean Vegetables John.”