Each week, Eric Cherson loaded the family station wagon with trays of meals for MANNA, the Philadelphia program that delivered food to people living with serious illness. His wife, Carol, remembered the planning that went into it — buying a car big enough for the deliveries, setting aside weekends for packing and drop-offs, and watching their young daughter carry bags to apartment doors. “We did it for years” in the ‘90s, she said. “That was Eric. He just wanted to help.”

Cherson, a longtime social worker who spent 38 years supporting students with disabilities and mental health needs, died on Nov. 6 at 77.

He grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. His father, Harry, ran a wholesale produce business and put young Eric’s picture on the side of the company truck — a snapshot the family still h

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