2 tragic runs
Brothers die jogging in parks just days apart
TWO JOGGING brothers, two city parks — and two fatal heart attacks, lessthan three weeks apart.
Peter Berry, 60, collapsed and died during a Central Park run on Sunday, just 20 days after his older half-sibling went into cardiac arrest during a New Year’s Eve jog through Prospect Park.
Rynn Berry, 68, died 10 days after collapsing inside the Brooklyn park; his brother passed away suddenly just 10days later.
The family was bracing for one funeral when they learned about the second stunning death under hauntingly similar circumstances.
“It’s been a shock for the family,” said Charles Berry, the last survivor of four brothers. “It’s been terrible. It’s still hard to believe. We’re just grateful for all the kind support.”
Charles identified his comatose half-brother Rynn in a Brooklyn hospital several days after the collapse. The Prospect Heights resident was carrying no identification when he was found unconscious.
The two dead brothers were athletic, health-conscious men who had competed in the NewYork City Marathon, according to familyand friends.
“It’s sort of a tragic coincidence,” said Martin Rowe, 48, a friend of Rynn. “Two men who insome form or another took care of themselves. . . . Yet this happened.”
Peter Berry was a graduate of Yale and Boston University Law School and launched a career in tax and corporate trust law. The erudite Berry was an avid bicyclist, accomplished squash player and a faithful practitionerof yoga.
“Peter was in very good shape,” said brother Charles. “He was incredible with yoga — very limber.”
A memorial service was set for Monday at St. James Church at MadisonAve. and 71stSt.
“We are coping very privately,” said Peter’s ex-wife, Tav Holmes Berry, at her Upper West Side home. He was also survived by the couple’s three children.
Rynn Berry, a well-known vegetarian author, went unidentified for a week after he was found unconscious inside Prospect Park on the last day of 2013. He was carrying only keys and an asthma inhaler when he went out for an afternoon jog, andwas listed for severaldays as a “John Doe.”
A Brooklyn neighbor of Rynn Berry finally saw a widely circulated picture of the unconscious man in his hospital bed, and notified police.
Rynn Berry was eventually identified by Charles Berry at New York Methodist Hospital. He died on Jan. 9, with family and friends at his bedsid side.
Rynn Berry was the author of “T “The Vegan Guide to New York C City.” Plans for his funeral remained in incomplete, according to his survivin ing brother.
An older brother, Eliot, died of hea heart failure in November 2008 at age 59. He was a world-class squash player, an all-Ivy League football kicker and andan accomplished tennisplayer.