In loving memory of Merle Evelyn Ratner

Calling on our community:

With profound sadness, we are writing to let you know that our beloved sister, comrade, friend and mentor Merle Evelyn Ratner passed away suddenly and tragically on Monday evening, February 5th. Merle was struck by a tow truck on East 10th Street at Avenue C at about 7pm as she was shopping for groceries to have dinner with a friend on East 14th Street. She died immediately at the scene.

Merle, a longtime and beloved community member of the East Village, was a multi-issue activist, most notably a giant of the solidarity movement with Vietnam, including decades of work in the war’s aftermath building friendship between people in the U.S. and the Vietnamese people. Merle co-founded the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC) with her husband of 44 years, Ngo Thanh Nhan, which fought to make the U.S. government and chemical companies compensate people in Vietnam for the legacy of birth defects and cancers caused by toxic chemicals the U.S. military used during the war.

Over the last five decades, since the age of 13 when she was arrested for protesting the Vietnam War, Merle's love, commitment, work never waivered.

Most recently, Merle supported the development of a new generation of Vietnamese leftists in the US - organizing study groups, trips to Vietnam and strategy through VietLeft Power.

Merle had served on the board of the Brecht Forum/Marxist School, a movement education center. She was currently a board member of the Laundry Workers Center, a project which advocates on behalf of low-wage laundry and food service workers.

Merle also devoted herself to building a strong left movement and strategy, a leader within LeftRoots where she coordinated the organization’s efforts to open dialogue with social movement and Left organizations over the past decade.

Merle was beloved by her community near and far. She was the primary caretaker of her mother, and an unflagging anchor to the work both she and her partner in life and struggle Ngo Thanh Nhan shared.

We are asking the community to support Merle and her surviving family with funds as they navigate these next few months. All funds will be collected and provided directly to Ngo Thanh Nhan, her life-partner. We thank you for your generosity in this period.

Merle’s Memorial will be held in New York City, New York on her birthday, Wednesday, February 28th, 2024.

We will update this page with information as necessary.

Only a few days ago, the Vietnam News Agency published an interview with Merle: https://en.vietnamplus.vn/us-activist-cpv-stands-as-linchpin-behind-every-vietnams-success/279202.vnp

You can read more about Merle’s life-work here: https://vietnamwar.nyhistory.org/oral-histories/259/.

Quote from our beloved Merle: “I feel like I can say that I’ve lived my life, and hopefully will continue to live my life...in a way that is something that carries out what I believe, and that works with other people that are doing what they believe, and will try to make a better society from this society with all these problems. I never regretted it. I still don’t regret it, and I intend to spend the rest of my life doing it.”