Cuba solidarity activist David Wald died from pancreatic cancer Sunday morning, May 18, at his Santa Clara, Calif., home. Wald was born on Feb. 19, 1928, in Brooklyn, N.Y. His parents were socialist immigrants from Poland.
 Cuba solidarity activist David Wald |
But there was a shortage of terminals for the hospitals and medical schools, the Cubans said. Reardon and Wald returned to California and, operating as U.S.-Cuba InfoMed, began looking for old computers, volunteers to repair them, and people who would donate workspaces.
The project drew worldwide attention in 1996 when a shipment of refurbished computers on a caravan was confiscated by U.S. officials in a standoff at the U.S.-Mexico border. The computers were released after a 90-day hunger strike by five caravanistas.
By 2005, the Bay Area group had shipped several thousand computer systems to Infomed in Havana.
In 2006, a large number of refurbished computers could not travel to Cuba. This led to what Wald came to call “the best shipment ever”—a huge shipment of computers to La Paz for use in Bolivia’s medical system. Cuban medical personnel were already in Bolivia assisting newly elected president Evo Morales in his efforts to give the poor access to education and health care.
Spreading information technology throughout the island and helping other countries to get started in similar projects earned Cuba’s Infomed the prestigious Stockholm Award in 2002.
In June 2006, while Wald was hospitalized for pancreatic cancer surgery, he was heartened to receive a photo showing Urra and the Cuban Infomed staff sending him good wishes. He had been to Cuba more than two dozen times since his first visit in 1978.
In December 2007, he and his wife, Joan Bazar, made a farewell visit to Havana, where Infomed celebrated its 15th anniversary with a week of events during which Wald was presented with a plaque from the Cuban Ministry of Public Health “for being an essential part of Infomed and for being an eternal friend and brother of the Cuban Revolution.”
Upon learning of Wald’s death, Urra sent a statement, which included the following tribute:
“His contribution to our work has a very special significance. Wald was a marvelous person and an activist for justice and for good causes all his life. It cannot be any other way, because such a human person has to be an activist for justice even though he doesn’t recognize himself as one. … That’s exactly where his greatness always lay, in his humility.”
U.S.-Cuba Infomed was only one of many projects to which Wald dedicated his intelligence and considerable energy. Starting out at age 17 as a mess hall worker in the merchant marine, he later studied mechanical engineering at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and earned a masters degree in aeronautical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Stanford University.
As a union steward in the National Maritime Union, Wald took part in labor struggles while in the merchant marine. For most of his adult life, he has been involved with a wide range of social-justice issues. With his help, the signature drive for the 1972 San José Peace Initiative put the measure on the ballot, and it passed overwhelmingly making San José one of three U.S. cities to officially oppose the Vietnam War.
He was the Peace and Freedom Party candidate for U.S. Senate in 1976, 1980 and 1982, and in 1978 he won more than 270,000 votes for California secretary of state. In 1992, he challenged Anna Eshoo for U.S. Congress.
In December 1982, Wald and his new wife, Bazar (Wald had been married before to Renée Krieger Wald, with whom he had two sons, Philip and Keith) went on a Caribbean honeymoon to Nicaragua and Cuba. He returned to Nicaragua many times over the next few years, with generators to install in 14 hospitals, gifts of the Bay Area’s Nicaragua Hospital Emergency Generator Project.
He also joined in the campaigns to end the genocidal sanctions imposed on Iraq following the first Gulf War and to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq following the March 2003 invasion.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation salutes the many contributions of Wald and extends its condolences to his wife and surviving family members.
¡David Wald, Presente!
A celebration of David’s life is planned for July 13 in San José, Calif. Location to be announced. Call (408) 243-4359 for information.
