By Mark Fearer, grandson

Harry Ragovin is a virtually forgotten man - he fought no heroic battles, he accomplished no feats worthy of official recognition.

Harry was born in the Lower East Side of NYC to hard working Eastern European immigrant parents, the eldest of 7 siblings, two of whom died in childhood.

Harry probably didn't finish high school, and was drafted to fight in WWI at it's very end. But he was no warrior - he never left the U.S. After his brief service, he was a a taxi driver, farm laborer, chauffeur, shipping clerk, worked in a blueprint factory and was a "hypoboy" (probably a position in a photographer’s studio developing photos.)

At some later point, he went to work for his uncle in Nutley, NJ candy store. He married relatively late in life (he was almost 30) to Celia Smolensky, who was also the child of Eastern European immigrants. They had 3 children, of which two are still alive (as of early 2010). He bought a candy store that he owned for 25 years in Kearny, NJ, recalled his youngest daughter. The family was quite frugal, and her fondest memories of him were of just the two of them traveling by bus from their Kearny home to NYC to see the Rockettes and eat at a diner near the theatre.

He was a quiet, gentle man who was rarely noticed, and worked hard all his life, but like most people, he received no recognition for any of those qualities. He was “hen-pecked,” very quiet, passive and worked long hours, his son remembered. "I never heard a curse word out of him except 'damn', once."

He was a blue collar worker his whole life, and in retirement, didn't know what to do with himself. After his wife and companion died in 1964, he lived with his daughter’s family, where he slowly deteriorated, mentally and physically and died four years later, at age 74. He was well regarded by all who knew him, although he did not share much about his life with others.

No plaques nor statues bear his name - probably his gravestone is the only enduring evidence he ever walked this earth.