Harriet Berger, 94, Drexel professor, activist

Harriet Fleisher Berger, 94, of East Falls, a Drexel University professor from 1967 to 1988 whose life was shaped by progressive causes, died of Parkinson’s disease on Friday, May 4, at her home.

Mrs. Berger was the former wife of David Berger, city solicitor from 1956 to 1963 in the Democratic administration of Mayor Richardson Dilworth, which ended in 1962. Mr. Berger’s later career focused on class-action lawsuits involving the likes of the Three Mile Island and Exxon Valdez disasters.

A son, Jonathan, wrote in an appreciation of Mrs. Berger that “she worked tirelessly throughout her life in support of politically and socially progressive policies for workers’ rights, occupational health and safety, environmental protection, public education, civil rights, rights for women and universal access to health care.”...