“Eric was able to connect Kirkland residents with internships in politics and helped them get on this campaign and on that campaign, and Alison was an outstanding pre-law tutor,” Kirkland House Master Verena A. Conley said. “They were some of the finest tutors we have ever had.”
A HIGHER CALLING
In January 2014, on the final stretch towards graduating from Harvard Law School, the State Senate seat in Lesser’s home district opened. After more than a decade away, Lesser said that he decided it was time to return home and run for the seat.
Lesser, Silber, and their recently-born daughter Rose packed their bags to move back to Lesser’s parents’ home in western Mass. to start the campaign. Before he left, Lesser decided to bring a little bit of Kirkland with him in the form of his new campaign manager, William L. Morrow '15-16, a Kirkland resident and one of Lesser’s concentration advisees.
“When he called and asked me if I wanted to take a semester off to work as his campaign manager, I said absolutely. No doubt,” Morrow said.
From the get-go, Lesser had many supporters from the Harvard community, including former University president and Economics professor Lawrence H. Summers, who worked with Lesser at the White House.
“Eric has enormous energy. He is very thoughtful, committed to making the world a better place, able to subordinate his ego, is loyal to his friends, [and] decent to his adversaries,” Summers said. “I told people who I asked to support Eric’s campaign that supporting him now might as well be as close as they get to what it would have been like to support Barack Obama when he was in his 20s.”
When asked about what the future holds for Lesser, Levine reiterated the importance of the people of Longmeadow in Lesser’s life.
“I think he really feels excited and comforted in a way to be back home and represent the people that he has really grown up with,” Levine said. “I am pretty confident that he will be somewhere representing the people of his community and working on behalf of his community.”