June 24, 1963 was the birthdate of my late friend and political colleague John W. Perry. He died September 11th, 2001 at the World Trade Center, aged 38. Perry was both a lawyer and a police officer. When the planes struck the tower, he was down at New York Police Department Headquarter. He was retiring that day to join a small immigration law practice. Instead of filing papers, he put on an NYPD shirt and rushed to help, dying at the Twin Towers.
I said at the time when I was serving as State Chair of the Libertarian Party of New York "As a libertarian and a police officer, John was dedicated to defending everyone’s right to life, liberty, and property. He was a true hero. He was a great Libertarian."
In November 2001, a memorial was held to "Celebrate The Exuberant Life Of John W. Perry" at the First Presbyterian Church in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. I attended as did many of my friends.
John Perry was an extraordinary individual. He was a police officer, an activist for free speech and gun rights, a lawyer, a gifted linguist, a marathon runner, and an actor. If you see the movie Devil’s Advocate, John played a police officer near the end.
John’s interests and memberships were wide-ranging: the Libertarian Party, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Screen Actors Guild, New York Roadrunners, the National Rifle Association, the New York Guard and many others.
His death was a great loss.
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About the author: Richard Cooper is an international trade executive with a manufacturing firm on Long Island, New York, USA. He is active in the Libertarian Party www.lp.org on eminent domain and other issues. He was chair of the Libertarian Party of New York http://ny.lp.org.