By Anna Gustafson
Flushing resident Mitchell Wiener, the first person in the city to die after being diagnosed with swine flu, was remembered at his funeral Wednesday as a dedicated teacher and family man who gave his all to supporting his three sons, wife, students and colleagues.
Hundreds of teachers, students and community members packed into Sinai Chapels in Fresh Meadows for the funeral for Wiener, 55, a longtime assistant principal and math teacher at IS 238 in Hollis.
He died Sunday evening after fighting swine flu for five days at Flushing Hospital.
“My hero is someone who saw me draw my first breath, my father Mitchell Wiener,” Jordan Wiener, his 18−year−old son, said at the funeral.
“Mitchell Wiener is the rock of our family,” his son continued. “If someone tells me I am like my dad, that is the greatest compliment anyone could give me.”
Jordan Wiener’s twin brother, Farrell, and older brother, Adam, 23, also attended the funeral. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, city Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and Borough President Helen Marshall were also at the service.
Time and again, friends and family of Mitchell Wiener remembered him as a selfless role model and Little League baseball coach who tried to encourage everyone in his life to reach their potential.
“My father coached my baseball teams for many years,” Jordan Wiener said. “My father gave even the most mediocre and terrible players time on the field.”
IS 238 Principal Joseph Gates recalled Mitchell Wiener as the “heart and soul of our building.”
“In my 17 years in education, he is the man I respected most,” Gates said. “He was my friend, and he was deeply troubled by anyone who appeared to be slipping through the cracks. I can’t tell you how many students have told me in the last couple days that he saved their lives.”
Gates said Wiener was known as the school’s “iron man” because he was never late or absent.
“Mitch loved history and was particularly fond of President [John F.] Kennedy, so I am going to leave you with a quote from President Kennedy: “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but ideas live on,” Gates said. “Mitch, you may no longer be with us, but your ideas live on.”
Bonnie Wiener, Mitchell Wiener’s widow who works at IS 238, remembered her husband as her best friend.
“People would always say “you’re always together, don’t you get sick of each other?” Bonnie Wiener said. “There was never any better company. He was always the best.”
