Jamie Lembeck, avid advocate for the disabled
March 7, 1953 — June 24, 2008
His wheelchair was one obvious clue about who Jamie Lembeck was. His many friends would say it was also probably the most misleading.
“One of his famous quotes was, ‘Talk to me for five minutes and my wheelchair will disappear,’ ” said Tony Billoni, one of his best friends. “Most people who knew him knew him for the man he was, and the things he did. He was a doer.”
Mr. Lembeck, a dogged advocate for the disabled and passionate music fan, died Tuesday in the former Main Street firehouse he pushed to have rebuilt to accommodate disabled tenants. He was 55.
Mr. Lembeck, determined to lead an active life despite not having the use of his limbs, “had a way of connecting with people almost immediately,” Billoni said.
That trait helped him attract “the most eclectic mix of friends I ever met,” said another friend, former City Commissioner of Planning and Community Development Joe Ryan.
A New York City native, Mr. Lembeck came to Buffalo to attend Buffalo State College, where he earned two degrees. While there, he combined his love for music and his advocacy to organize still-remembered dance marathons and raise money to fight muscular dystrophy.
A spinal tumor 20 years ago led to loss of mobility. Billoni said Mr. Lembeck aggressively took on the challenges of his changed circumstances.
“I don’t think he was ever at odds with the idea of being positive about life,” he said. “To him, the perception that he was a scrappy go-getter before his [life in a wheelchair] may have remained with him the rest of his life.”
Mr. Lembeck frequently enlisted Ryan, who began using a wheelchair following a bicycling accident in 1995, to help remedy accessibility inequities.
“That’s his legacy,” Ryan said. “If he saw something that could be done better for disabled people, he would try to get it done.”
Mr. Lembeck, promotions coordinator for People Inc., worked in big and small ways to do that.
He served as an accessibility consultant on HSBC Arena, Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo and Babeville, home to Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, on whose board of directors he served for 10 years.
But countless people with disabilities found Mr. Lembeck a valuable source for information and resources.
“We’ve lost a member of our family,” said People Inc. CEO and President James Boles. “We’ll miss him.”
Music was a large part of Mr. Lembeck’s life. Growing up in New York City in the late ’60s and early ’70s, it was Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. In later years, he developed an affinity for the alternative country sounds of artists like Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch.
But his support for local music and local musicians was evident by his presence in the city’s music venues.
A memorial service is being planned.
— John F. Bonfatti
