Ritchie Torres: “Robert Leder, as his name would suggest, was a natural leader, loved by the thousands of students whose lives he lifted.…”

“Robert Leder, as his name would suggest, was a natural leader, loved by the thousands of students whose lives he lifted. I, for one, would not be here were it not for Robert Leder, who set me on a trajectory that led from public housing in the Bronx to the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. My story is a mere footnote in the much larger legacy of public service that Robert Leder left behind after his passing in 2018. Mr. Leder entered public education in the 1960s as a Spanish teacher. In the late 1970s, he rose to become the principal of Herbert H. Lehman High School in the Bronx, a position he held for nearly three decades, making him, at the time, the longest-serving educator in America's largest city. As principal, he knew the name of every student. He held everyone around him to the highest standards, but he held himself to the highest standard of all. We, the alumni of Lehman High School, will always love you, Mr. Leder. We will never forget you. I will not always be a Member of Congress, but I will always be the grateful student of the greatest educator I have ever known, Robert Leder. May he rest in peace. ____________________”