Leonard P. Zakim

Leonard Paul "Lenny" Zakim (November 17, 1953 – December 2, 1999) was a Jewish-American religious and civil rights leader in Boston. Zakim died in 1999 after a 5-year battle with bone-marrow cancer. Boston's Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge was named in his honor.

Zakim was born in Clifton, New Jersey and became interested in civil rights and activism after he encountered anti-semitism as a boy. He earned his B.A. degree from American University in Washington, DC and his J.D. degree from the New England School of Law in 1978. He settled in the Boston area after law school and lived there until the end of his life. In 1978 he worked as the southeast Massachusetts field director for the reelection campaign of then Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Paid $50 a week to work on the ultimately unsuccessful campaign, this experience nevertheless formed the cornerstone of his later political involvement. "The campaign was the beginning of an association with Dukakis and his wife, Kitty, that would bring Zakim to the policy-making level of the national Democratic Party, a standing he retained after Dukakis's political career faded," the Boston Globe wrote in its obituary on Zakim.

In 1979 he was hired by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as its New England Civil Rights director and in 1984 he was named New England director for the organization.

He and his wife Joyce had three children - Josh, Deena and Shari.

In addition to his work with the ADL, Zakim was co-founder of A World of Difference Institute, an anti-bias educational project formed in Boston in 1986. The project has been adapted in 29 other cities and six counties.

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