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"A NEWARK CHARACTER"
From Dave Akers

Harold Guerin shines bright in my memory. I recall him on a mid-morning stroll through the new William Street clinic in the early 80's (a gasoline fire had put paid to the old one). Walking through, he would talk to the investigators, asking if they had any sixes for him, folding up the pinks into his shirt pocket and heading for the field in his pink and white Caddy. Recalcitrant individuals he visited in the field usually turned up the next day in clinic, bright and early. Harold had been the Director of the Welfare Program in Newark, and he freely used his influence there in the cause of public health. He must have been near 80 at that time, and he was a man with considerable style. Dressed in a white suit, panama hat, flower in buttonhole, two-toned brogues, and always packing a revolver, he was always an impressive sight as he pulled up to an address in that large Caddy. Adding to the gravity of his person was an ear that had been nearly chewed off long ago and not thought of much anymore. He was a delightful and unforgettable Irishman who had style and heft in abundance, and he was a natural on the streets. He often told me that he could talk to Jake Javits on my behalf to have me permanently assigned to Newark, an offer I respectfully declined at least twice.

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