Today I joined the friends, family, and loved ones of Ady Barkan for a special memorial to celebrate his remarkable life that ended too soon after a battle with ALS.

Ady was a hero who made this world a better place. I admired him with my whole heart. He was family.

I first met Ady in 2013. I was a baby senator, and Ady was organizing an effort aimed at a wild and crazy place: the Federal Reserve. When most people hear about monetary policy and the Fed’s dual mandate for price stability and full employment, you can actually see them counting off the seconds until they can change the subject.

But not Ady.

He recognized that the Fed’s monetary policies touched the lives of real people every day — and he believed he could help influence those policies to tilt them a little less toward billionaire investors and a little more toward the financial security of American families.

So he organized. He built a coalition of workers, activists, economists, and lawmakers like me to challenge the Fed’s perpetual tilt to prioritize Wall Street over workers.

In 2014, he built a movement he called FedUp — and America’s understanding of the Fed would never be the same. His work made a difference.

The FedUp campaign is just one example of how Ady worked.

About four months after the birth of his son Carl, Ady learned he had ALS. At that point, even an all-in activist like Ady could have chosen to focus only on himself.

But instead, he dived even deeper — this time into the fight for health care.

When Trump and Republicans decided to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they looked unstoppable. Millions of people — particularly those with pre-existing conditions — were about to lose coverage and, for some, lose the lifelines that were keeping them alive.

So, Ady did what Ady always did: he organized and he fought back.

He confronted powerful people.

He toured the country to mobilize grassroots supporters for the cause.

He found Senator Jeff Flake on a plane and asked him to “be a hero” and to protect the Affordable Care Act.

He stepped up at the first Congressional hearing, passionately defending Medicare for All. He wrote op-eds. He launched an organization — Be a Hero — to support politicians who would expand health care access.

He led one protest — and then he led another and another.

And when we finally beat back the attack on the ACA by a single vote, Ady didn’t quit. He swung into action to demand MORE access to health care.

He campaigned actively in the 2020 election, pressed candidates to support greater access to health care, hosted interviews, and spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

He reminded America of what is possible.

Up until the very end, Ady — and his family — sacrificed so much to fight for a better health care system and a better world. And they did so with grace, courage, and heart.

If you’re able to make a donation to support the Ady Barkan Fund for Health Justice, it would go a long way to help continue Ady’s legacy of dogged advocacy and ensure that Be a Hero can continue fighting for health care as a human right.