East Side Activist Will Weder Eulogized as “Man of Quiet Strength”

It was standing room only in the Sculpture Court Room at the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park earlier is summer for the Memorial to influential community leader Wilbur Allen “Will” Weder.

Known to all as “Will,” he was a longtime community activist. He was married to Gregory L. Lambert in 2011 at the same club where he was eulogized on June 25. He served as Vice President of the influential Samuel J. Tilden Democratic Club, President of the Bellevue Hospital Community Advisory Board, and Chair of the Bellevue Auxiliary. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his husband Greg, the son of Surrogate Court Judge Marie Lambert. Tilden District Leader Michelle (Shelly) Winfield reminds that her husband Claude L. Winfield (a Tilden member) sat on a long-ago panel and voted for Lambert for Surrogate’s Court. In describing Will, she said, at the memorial, “He was always deliberate and focused. Will always thought of what suggestions he could make to improve the community around him. Will was a gentle giant who got things done!”

Will was born and raised near Winchester, Illinois and held a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and a Masters from the University of Chicago. After a career in government, he retired to NYC and dedicated himself to community service and was active politically as evidenced by the SRO crowd. Justice Adam Silvera facilitated. Members of the Manhattan judiciary included Judges Alex Tisch, Jeffrey Zellan, Matthew Bondy, Christopher Chin, Shah Ally, and Kathleen Waterman-Marshall. The 12th CD’s newly elected Congressmember Micah Lasher was there, as was former councilmember and judge Kathryn Freed. Other Manhattan political notables included Frank Wilkinson, Lois Rakoff, Brice Peyre and Shelby Garner.

In an Instagram post, newly elected State Senator Eric Bottcher commented, “I’m saddened by the passing of my friend Will Weder. Will was a gentle and loving person who dedicated his life to serving others. He was a longtime pillar of the [Tilden] Club, a dedicated veteran, and a tireless LGBTQ rights advocate whose life was defined by service. Through his work as a community leader, his advocacy on behalf of veterans and patients, and his deep commitment to East Midtown, Will made a lasting impact.”

Will was a longtime friend and supporter of former Congressmember Carolyn Maloney and her daughter Councilmember Virginia Maloney. Carolyn couldn’t be at the memorial and Virginia was asked to give remarks in her stead. Growing up herself in the swirl and whirl of politics, she said she was “honored to have been asked to fill in for my mom” and knew firsthand of Will’s role and involvement in the community.

“He was a man of quiet strength and integrity, and a truly remarkable individual in the civic life of New York City,” said Maloney. “He was devoted to his beloved husband Greg Lambert. He was fiercely dedicated to his family and friends. To the causes and institutions he believed in and cared about. Whether it was defending the communities of the East Side...or his fellow veterans and the Manhattan VA Hospital; or the Bellevue Hospital Community Advisory Board that he chaired and served on for so long; or as a proud activist in the LGBTQ+ community. The list of communities he touched goes on,” she said, “but the feeling is consistent: When Will Weder was on your side, you always knew you could count on him— and you knew you had a kind of secret superhero alongside you.”

Manhattan Miscellany I couldn’t believe it. The latest issue of Vogue magazine (I’m a subscriber) was 390 pages —yes, 390 pages—which is over a hundred pages short of Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark’s Roy Cohn-maybe-tell-all tome American Scandal—which weighs in at 509 pages. True, Vogue’s heavy on ads, and the Cohn book’s heavy on acknowledgements, bibliography, index, notes—but for those of us who carry our books and magazines in a bag and don’t engage in audio to read—that’s a heavy tote. And reading and flipping the oversized Vogue magazine pages over latte is one tough call. I get that pages and pages of beautiful ads pay the printer, et al. But what about reader convenience? While I don’t have a solution, I don’t/won’t/can’t abandon print magazines, but ask/beg, however un-humbly, no more oversized, too-many pages per magazine. Oh, and the New York Review of Books however slim, is so oversized that I rue opening the mailbox...but I’ll keep on subscribing.