Harry Lester, In Guv We Trust

Senator Ralph Northam, D-6, wants the Virginia General Assembly to pay tribute to Harry Lester, 67, who will step down as president of Eastern Virginia Medical School April 15 after eight years.

Northam introduced Senate Joint Resolution 412 February 12, commending Lester for his service as president of EVMS.

I met Harry Lester at the beginning of the last decade, before he took on the EVMS job and brought the school notoriety and much needed funds.

It was a phone conversation. At the end of it, I asked him his title.

“Virginia Beach gadfly,” he said.

That was before he accepted the job as president of EVMS in 2005 after the abrupt departure of Dr. J. Summer Bell II.  

Lester promised to stay for four months.

Instead, he stayed for eight years.

Lester isn’t an academic and he's not a physician. He sold real estate for 30 years before joining EVMS' Board of Visitors in 2003.

But Lester has been the face of EVMS for eight years.

Essentially, Lester is EVMS.

His is the face that launched hundreds of donations to the school, including money for new classrooms and a cancer research center.

Lester grew up in Ashboro, North Carolina. His father, F.C. Lester, was a minister, and his mother, Emily, taught elementary school. Both were active with the church.

His parents were the biggest influences in his life. Work hard and be nice, his parents taught him. 

In Government We Trust
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Jan. 9-13 among 1,502 adults, finds that 53 percent think that the federal government threatens their own personal rights and freedoms while 43 percent disagree.

In March 2010, opinions were more evenly divided, the Center found, with 47 percent saying it did while 50 percent disagreed.

The growing view that the federal government threatens personal rights and freedoms has been led by conservative Republicans, the Center said.

Currently 76 percent of conservative Republicans say that the federal government threatens their personal rights and freedoms and 54 percent describe the government as a “major” threat.
Three years ago, 62 percent of conservative Republicans said the government was a threat to their freedom and 47 percent said it was a major threat.

By comparison, there has been little change in opinions among Democrats hasn’t really changed with 38 percent saying government poses a threat to personal rights and freedoms and just 16 percent viewing government as a major threat.

People who say they have guns in their households continue to be more likely than those who do not to say that the government is a threat to their personal rights and freedoms, the Center said.

About six-in-ten in gun-owning households see the government as a threat, compared with 45 percent of those without guns, the Center said.