By Matthew Coleman on July 16th, 2011
In this Nov. 1976, photo provided by WhyHunger, Harry Chapin urges radio listeners to get involved in the fight against hunger at a New York radio station during WhyHungers second annual Hungerthon. Chapin's work as an advocate for the hungry is a legacy that resonates 30 years after his death at age 38 when a tractor-trailer demolished his car on the Long Island Expressway. (AP Photo/WhyHunger)
The epitaph on Harry Chapin’s gravestone is a lyric taken from his song “I Wonder What Would Happen to this World.” Carved into the speckled gray stone, under his name and the years 1942-1981, are the lyrics, “Oh if a man tried to take his time on Earth and prove before he died what one man’s life could be worth I wonder what would happen to this world.” Today, Saturday, July 16, marks 30 years since Brooklyn-born folk singer/songwriter Harry Chapin died in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway, but the tireless philanthropic work he did when he was alive has transcended time and made a man consistent with his epitaph.
“Chapin’s legacy to finding an end to hunger has lasted because he went after the cause with such passion,” says Paule T. Pachter, executive director of Long Island Cares, the organization Chapin founded in 1980. “Harry was walking through the halls of congress when he was talking about hunger. No one has come by with that kind of passion and conviction. There really hasn’t been another voice to fill his void.”
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