Lew Lehman
August 15, 1938 – March 11, 2026
Lew was one of the important early donors to the work of the World Youth Alliance. I remember meeting him in the early days, trying to answer all the questions that he peppered me with. A great financier in New York City, he could not understand how the WYA budget added up. The information I was providing him about our “major” donors was similarly incomprehensible. Finally, after many attempts to get at this information he clarified: “So I give money to George Weigel, and Fr. Richard John Neuhaus (of First Things), and they just give it to you?”
He was always a direct and clear man, and he decided that day he would simply give us his own money directly.
Those early gifts were essential to our survival and growth. I would meet with him annually, share our updates, discuss politics and literature, and receive the encouragement of more funds to continue. After many years of this, Lew had another memorable comment to me. As the leader of our work, which was difficult and, as he knew, often unwelcome, my job was not glamorous. It was, he said, to “sit on the toilet seat until the job is done”. The praise came next; he had noticed I had done that, for over a decade, and he would be giving more.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History was one of his great projects, which brought innovation, curricula, and important conferences, events, and new approaches to teaching American history in K-12 schools across the United States. Lew’s commitment to education, and to building the educational content and materials that could impact schools, students and teachers, led him to invest heavily in our Human Dignity Curriculum following initial research impact in Saint Lucia and the Bronx. He gave a transformational gift that allowed us to invest in research and development of the full K-12 content following our initial success, and his dream was that we would be able to bring this content to schools across the United States and around the world.
Lew lived long enough for us to fulfill that promise to him, particularly with the growth and widespread of adoption of the HDC in the United States, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Paraguay last year and this year alone.
Lew was a man of significant gifts. A scholar and author, he wrote many books ranging from the gold standard to Churchill to his great favorite, Abraham Lincoln. He founded Institutes and organizations. He ran for Governor of New York, and maintained a deep and committed interest in politics. He brought his family’s company to immense success, growing a small pharmacy into one of the national pharma chains, Rite Aid, before selling it all. He was a force in business and politics in New York, and a force in education through the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History. I learned from him. More than all these accomplishments however, and perhaps the thread that connected them all, was Lew’s great capacity for friendship. I treasure the friendship he extended to me, and the many conversations, activities and plans that we shared, along with the big ideas that light the way towards the point and purpose of it all.
We are grateful for his life, his work, and his generosity. We are grateful for him, and for his friendship. His memory is a blessing. He has fought the good fight, he has finished the race, he has kept the faith. I have no doubt that he has been welcomed to his reward with the words he longed to hear: well done, good and faithful servant.
Anna and Lew
Anna and Lew with Lew receiving the Mary R. Smith award from the World Youth Alliance
