He excelled in high school and was involved in a number of activities in the community.
For his high school journalism, Ledecky was awarded the Fred Russel-Grantland Rice Scholarship, a full ride to Vanderbilt University. While Ledecky was thrilled “because the finances were still tight,” he says his father was not.
“I don’t care if I have to go back to washing dishes—if you can get into Harvard or somewhere like it, you have to go there,” Ledecky recalls his father telling him.
HARVARD BOUND
At Harvard, Ledecky continued his extensive extracurricular involvement, comping the radio station—WHRB—and The Crimson both in his first semester. And although he made both, he had to withdraw from Ec10 as a result of his focus on extracurriculars.
“He was always involved in one project or another,” says Director. “It always seemed like he had something else going on in school. I think it was a little bit of everything.”
For The Crimson, Ledecky covered a range of sports, including crew, basketball, football, hockey and field hockey. He also had a column called “J.J.’s Journal.”
To fulfill his work-study requirement, Ledecky took on two jobs. He wrote profiles of Harvard varsity athletes for the Athletics Department, and he coordinated reunion housing for the Harvard Alumni Association.
He says both jobs were crucial for him later in life, helping forge Harvard connections and instilling in him a sense of lasting ties to the University.
In the classroom, Ledecky became interested in race relations. Although he concentrated in government, he forged close ties to professors in the African-American studies department.
Ledecky wrote his senior thesis on the relationship between black civil rights leaders and white businesspeople in 1960’s Atlanta. But even this academic interest traced back to extracurricular involvement, as it led him to work with then-Dean of Students Archie C. Epps on the Harvard Committee on Race Relations, which studied the state of interracial interaction on campus and intended to address the question of self-segregation.
Binnie recalls that while Ledecky was “very serious” in College, his energy—both then and now—spills over to those around him.
“His enthusiasm for life is infectious,” Binnie says.
Director says he and Ledecky’s other college friends joke that they will attend Ledecky’s marriage in a wheelchair, because Ledecky keeps so busy.”He’s a person who seems to care a great deal about family,” Director says. “He’s got a lot of affection toward my own children, toward the children of all of my roommates. It’s unfortunate that he has not yet found someone to settle down with and have his own family because I think he would enjoy that very much.”
Ledecky currently lives in John F. Kennedy’s former Georgetown townhouse, another deal brokered through Harvard connections.
In what free time remains, Ledecky says he runs marathons all over the world.
In the future, Ledecky says his three priorities will continue to be charitable giving and community involvement, business ventures and being active in the Harvard Alumni Association.
Ledecky says he plans to continue to live his life as he always has. Explaining one of his favorite “Ledecky’s laws,” he says, “If you’re willing to give another person credit, there’s no limit to what you can achieve. That’s how I try to live my life today.”
—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.