Brodek, Theodor Victor
BRODEK, Dr. Theodor
Victor "Ted"
Dr. Theodor Victor Brodek, known to all as Ted, was born in Tel Aviv during the Second World War to German-Jewish refugees. He was a lifelong political activist, who was passionately involved in international, labor union and neighborhood issues. He believed that it is everyone's obligation to challenge oppression, no matter where it occurs. A radical spirit to the end, even in his final days, he was encouraging the care workers around him to unionize.
Ted spent the last year of his life in Boston under the care of his eldest daughter Karen. He passed away from congestive heart failure on April 15, 2022, at the age of 79. On that day, the world lost a brilliant thinker, a radical voice, an insightful writer, a funny and feisty comrade, and a loving parent to his daughters, Karen and Lorna.
Ted lived a full life in places as diverse as Tel Aviv, Rapallo, New York, Berkeley, and Heidelberg, before he settled down in Atlanta for most of his life. Soon after moving to the Lake Claire neighborhood in 1969, Ted joined others working to revitalize the intown Little 5 Points community. He thrived as an organizer for almost 50 years, living, raising a family and working in the neighborhood where he made an enormous contribution as well as many friends.
In the early 1970s, as the Bass Organization for Community Development (BOND) connected Lake Claire, Candler Park, Little 5 Points, Inman Park, and Poncey-Highland, Ted was involved with several emerging initiatives and groups: an early Lake Claire neighborhood association; the Community Star Newspaper serving the five neighborhoods; the newly-established BOND Credit Union; the independent radio station WRFG (Radio Free Georgia); and the opposition to the Stone Mountain Tollway. Joining the 'Roadbusters' civil disobedience, Ted was part of the Road Fight, which mobilized the entire community as they defended the parks, schools and neighborhood under threat. In the 1990s, he served a term as chair of the Neighborhood Planning Unit. Political activism on international and labor as well as neighborhood issues defined his life.
Arriving at Emory University in 1967 to teach German history, he soon became immersed in the movement against the Vietnam War. For several years, Ted combined teaching with activism, writing much of the Vietnam War coverage for the Great Speckled Bird, Atlanta's underground newspaper started in 1968. Ultimately, he left Emory, joining others of his 1960s generation who parted ways with academia. After working as a sheet metal worker and German translator, Ted found his niche as a mediator. When the Carter Administration set up the Neighborhood Justice Center in Inman Park in 1978, Ted signed up for the training. What began as one more neighborhood involvement evolved into a decades-long career in dispute resolution through mediation.
Ted's parents fled Germany in 1933 after the rise of the Nazis and he was born in 1942 in Tel Aviv, Palestine, before Israel was established in 1948. The family moved to New York in 1950. Connected to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict through his background, Ted drew conclusions that were opposed by many Jews. Willing to take unpopular stands he believed to be just, he spoke out against the violation of Palestinian rights by the Israeli government. The Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel, an Palestinian-American Presbyterian minister, said of him: "When I came to Atlanta in 1970, Ted was the only Jewish -American voice here advocating for Palestinian human rights and justice for Palestine. He recognized that Palestinians were oppressed and was a great support for me." For decades, Ted worked with the Palestinian community and the American Friends Service Committee, organizing educational programs, hosting visiting Palestinian and Jewish peace activists and establishing long-term friendships.
In 1968, Ted married Ann Mauney whom he met at the October 1967 "Storming of the Pentagon", an anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C. Together they put down roots in their political community and neighborhood and raised two daughters. Although they divorced in 2012, they remained friends. In his later years, Ted was the companion of Patrica Tucker. He is survived by his daughters, Karen Mauney-Brodek of Boston, and Lorna Mauney-Brodek of Dublin, Ireland; his sister, Karen McCuaig of Washington, D.C.; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
A celebration of his life is planned on Saturday, December 3 in Atlanta, GA. Please contact the family directly for details. If you are moved to action or to give in his memory, please join a peaceful protest, write a letter to the editor, make a gift to your favorite cause, or consider a donation to WRFG (Radio Free Georgia) Atlanta's independent community radio station for progressive information (see link).
https://secure.givelively.org/donate/radio-free-georgia-broadcasting-foundation-inc
