(WSVN) - A South Florida man spoke to 7News about the friendship he formed with the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg after she helped him fight for benefits he believed he and his young son deserved back in the 1970s.
His lawyer, none other than Ginsburg, argued the case before the Supreme Court, and she insisted that he and his baby son accompanied her to the court because she wanted the justices to see exactly who the case was going to affect.
“I can talk for hours about all the things we did together. I can tell you about the times we went to the zoo, I can tell you about the times we did this that and the other,” said Stephen Wiesenfeld.
It was a case that forged a decades-long friendship and launched Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to national prominence.
“Sort of depriving me of something I wanted to do. I wanted to stay home and be a caring and loving parent, and I had a great time doing it. If you look back on my life, I wouldn’t change that at all,” Wiesenfeld said.
Wiesenfeld became the center of a critical legal battle after losing his wife in childbirth in 1972. He was left to care for his newborn son and applied for social security benefits for both he and his child.
He was, however, deemed ineligible under the Social Security’s argument of benefits only being provided for a deceased widowed wife and her children.
“There was nothing to fill out or anything like that for a surviving widower. Surviving widows got the benefit, but not surviving widowers,” Wiesenfeld said. “I asked, ‘Well, what would happen if I appealed directly to the Social Security system?’ and the agent just said, ‘Nothing. You wouldn’t win’”
Enter Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Wiesenfeld got creative by writing a letter to a local newspaper, which ultimately landed in the hands of the late justice.
“She was very positive about it, fairly confident that we would win, so I never had any feeling that we wouldn’t,” Wiesenfeld said.
RBG set the stage, and in 1975, she provided a strategy and a well-thought argument that handed Wiesenfeld a unanimous victory with the Supreme Court in what is now known as the famous case: Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld. And as we know, her work only progressed.
“She kept bringing these cases before the court, six of them, and eventually the court changed its mind and began to realize that men and women needed to be treated equally,” Wiesenfeld said.
Over the years, Wiesenfeld and Ginsburg kept in touch, communicating through letters.
Wiesenfeld even attended Supreme Court events. The late justice even officiated his wedding to his second wife.
“I got used to carrying around a two-year calendar because she makes her plans way in advance sometimes.”
Wiesenfeld will not only remember RBG as the woman who changed his life, but as a friend he will always hold dear to his heart.
“The nation lost a very powerful person, very important person,” he said. “She was making a difference in the world from the moment you saw her. When I ran into her, look at the difference that made.”
Wiesenfeld said he received a hand-written letter from her a few weeks ago saying she was struggling with chemotherapy. He said that if had one more chance to speak with her, he would tell her, “Thank you.”
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