By Dan Murphy
A true Boston icon and tireless champion of the city’s parks, Mr. Henry Lee died on Monday, Aug. 12, in Beverly. He was 99.
Mr. Henry Lee.
Mr. Lee, who was splitting his time between Beacon Hill and Beverly Farms, helped establish the Friends of the Public Garden – the nonprofit which in partnership with the Boston Parks Department now cares for and maintains the Boston Common, the Public Garden and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, in 1970 and was later named the group’s president emeritus.
Born on Jan. 13, 1925, Mr. Lee joined a long line of genteel ancestors as the only child of Frances LeMoyne Stevenson Lee and Henry Lee, but his childhood was one of modest means.
For high school, Mr. Lee attended The Brooks School in North Andover. He distinguished himself there academically and athletically on both the tennis court, where he was named Lower School tennis champion (1941), and on the football field as a varsity player. Although he was set to graduate from Brooks with the Class of 1944, he finished school a year earlier, intent on serving his country in the waning days of World War II. He was designated F-Four, ineligible for the armed services, however, due to the persistent hearing issues that had plagued him since childhood.
Shortly after this setback, Mr. Lee’s luck changed when he earned a scholarship to Harvard. At 17, Lee met his future wife, Joan, also 17, at a boat party, and they married soon afterwards. Their first child, Henry Lee Jr., was born in 1946, when Lee was only a sophomore in college.
In 1948, Lee, then 24, graduated from Harvard. He would soon earn a master’s in history from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.; father a second child, Karen; and hold a position with the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service.
Lee began his long career in education with a teaching position at the at the then all-male Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge. An extended tenure followed at the Dexter School in Brookline, where Lee would move from the classroom to serving as assistant headmaster. (Later, he would also accept a request to become interim headmaster for the Carroll School in Lincoln.)
In 1970, Lee turned his attention to the deteriorated Public Garden, which was located only steps away from his Mount Vernon Street home. The Public Garden had then fallen into a state of disrepair, with missing statues, along with dead and dying trees and plants, according to accounts from that time.
The park was also then in imminent danger due to 600-foot-plus-tall buildings proposed along Boylston Street, near Park Plaza; the project had garnered the support of then-Mayor Kevin White, along with the governor at the time, despite the proposed buildings potentially casting large shadows over much of the Garden’s 24 acres and potentially stirring up damaging winds there.
Lee headed up an ad hoc group, the Friends of the Public Garden, which was formed only one year prior to Park Plaza, and soon became the group’s president – a post he would go on to hold for 41 years.
By 1987, the Friends had expanded their scope to include the Boston Common and Commonwealth Avenue Mall. The group had also secured landmark status for the parks from the Boston Landmarks Commission by then, while the Public Garden had been named a National Historic Landmark, which would help safeguard the parks against future development.
On June 11 of this year, the Friends announced the establishment of the Henry Lee Fund for Boston Parks during its launch at the Parkman Bandstand on Common. The fund, according to the Friends group, was started to “provide small grants for tree and sculpture care and support special projects in public greenspaces in neighborhoods throughout Boston,” on an annual basis, with a panel group reviewing all applications.
“Henry was a friend, a partner, and a mentor for me and scores of park advocates throughout Boston and beyond. He won so many battles to save our parks, not by strident self-righteousness but by disarming diplomacy. We simply would not have them today without his inspiring leadership,” said Liv Vizza, president of the Friends group.
A statement released by the Friends group upon Mr. Lee’s death read in part: “As we reflect on his remarkable life, we remember Henry as a tireless advocate for our parks, from leading the fight against the massive Park Plaza development proposed in the seventies to working to restore the Common, Garden, and Mall when they were almost beyond saving. A civic leader committed to the greater good, he was also a champion of public spaces throughout Boston. Henry’s leadership, diplomacy, kindness, and dedication have left an indelible mark on our City, our organization, and all of our hearts. The foundation he laid for the Friends guides us daily in our mission to ensure that our parks are healthy and accessible to all. Henry Lee’s legacy is forever woven into the history and future of Friends of the Public Garden. “
Likewise, a statement from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, another nonprofit committed to preserving the area’s greenspace, read in part: “[Mr. Lee’s] work still guides us today: it was Henry’s tireless advocacy that led to official sunshine protections for Boston Common and the Public Garden. Today, we follow his lead working for sunshine protections for the rest of the Necklace, and all our public parks citywide. Henry leaves a legacy of restored, verdant greenspace that are now this city’s most treasured assets, and the entire parks community will sorely miss him.”
Asked to summarize Mr. Lee’s legacy in just a few words, Boston Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods responded it’s now “ensuring that these downtown parks are safe, welcoming, and accessible to all.”
Mayor Michelle Wu stated in The Boston Globe’s Aug. 15 obituary of Mr. Lee: “Henry’s combination of sweeping vision with incredible persistence and hard work to get all the little details right has transformed such an important part of how we think of Boston and how we interact with one of the most foundational spaces in the city.”
District 8 City Councilor Sharon Durkan said she was “absolutely devastated” to learn of Mr. Lee’s death.
“His love for our parks, dedication and follow through were unmatched,” said Councilor Durkan. “Boston will miss his leadership greatly.”
In a text to this reporter, Rep. Jay Livingstone, who had known Mr. Lee for many years, described him as an “amazing” man.
“Henry Lee has had such a profound positive impact on our community and our City,” wrote Rep. Livingstone. “No one will ever know the full extent – I learned more every time we spoke – but we all enjoy the benefit of his efforts. I greatly appreciate knowing Henry, always enjoyed running into him in the Common, and will miss him immensely.”
A memorial service for Mr. Lee has been scheduled for Friday, Nov. 1.
Materials previously reported in this publication by writer, Susanne Beck, were used in the preparation of this story.