We are deeply saddened to learn from the New York Times that Ady Barkin, with whom we dueled at Jackson Hole, Wyoming in affinity over our mutual unhappiness over the poor record of the Federal Reserve, is greatly debilitated by ALS.

Appelbaum: “In the summer of 2014, he took eightworkers and community activists to Jackson Hole, Wyo., to confront Federal Reserve policymakers at the central bank’s annual summer retreat. He believed that unions, churches and other liberal advocacy groups, which had long focused on microeconomic issues like minimum wage laws and mortgage aid programs, needed to pay more attention to the Fed’s role in shaping economic conditions. The first time I saw Mr. Barkan, he was standing in the lobby of the conference hotel, waiting to accost the Fed chairwoman, Janet Yellen, while wearing a green T-shirt that said “What Recovery?”

“The foundation that paid for the trip, and for the “Fed Up” campaign that Mr. Barkan mounted in its aftermath, wrote in an internal assessment that it didn’t see much chance Mr. Barkan would succeed in influencing monetary policy. But that November, Ms. Yellen met with 30 workers led by Mr. Barkan in the Fed’s ornate boardroom in Washington. Two years later, in August 2016, the Fed’s summer retreat opened with a new event: Eight of the Fed’s top officials attending a meeting with “Fed Up” participants, listening to their stories.”