Man killed in busy West Hartford intersection remembered as ‘kind and honorable person'

A vigil is taking place Wednesday night to honor a man killed by a driver in a busy intersection in West Hartford.

Stephen Mendelsohn, 63, of New Britain, was killed Sunday around 9:45 p.m. on New Britain Avenue by South Main Street.

The driver stayed on scene and is cooperating with the investigation, police said.

The vigil, put on by Bike West Hartford, honored Mendelsohn and the other pedestrians killed on roads in town in recent years.

“It’s a real tragedy. It’s so preventable,” Jason Wang, of Bike West Hartford, said.

His death is the first pedestrian fatality this year, according to the organization. Three pedestrians were killed in West Hartford last year.

Rabbi David Small of The Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford said he knew Mendelsohn well.

“He was a good, kind man. Stephen was a real gentleman. He was well read, he was an animal lover, he was a kind and honorable person,” Small said. “I’m very, very sorry at his untimely death.”

Small said Mendelsohn was a passionate activist, and a devout member of his Jewish community.

“Stephen was active in the orthodox part of the Jewish community, although he’s known more widely in the community and cherished by all of us,” Small said. “Stephen was aware and self-aware and open about his own being on the autism spectrum. While he did not always pick up on social cues, he had a highly developed social consciousness. He treated people respectfully and he was a kind and caring man.”

“Our hearts really go out to Stephen and his family, he really left us way too soon,” Wang said. “I understand he was quite the activist, and a prominent member in his community. It’s just really upsetting that we have to keep doing these.”

Wang said Bike West Hartford continues to hold the vigils in the hopes that people don’t become desensitized to these tragedies, and instead will help put an end to pedestrian deaths.

“Part of what we try to do at Bike West Hartford is…really try to make our streets as safe as possible, you know, calling to attention the fact that these injuries and deaths are really not inevitable. That they are preventable,” Wang said.

“I just crossed [New Britain Avenue]. We have crosswalks, but there’s no turn on red signage, the way the curves are designed really encourages drivers to take a rolling red. We really need safer systems to encourage people to do the right thing," he continued.