Gerald S. Lestz, a retired writer for the Lancaster New Era, and tireless enthusiast for the arts and preservation, died peacefully at his home on Conestoga Drive on Tuesday afternoon, September 12, 2009.
He was the husband of the late Margaret Gordon Lestz, beloved artist and arts leader who died in 2006. Together they helped found organizations and exhibitions that are priceless assets to the community's cultural life.
Lestz was born in Lancaster March 29, 1914, in the family home at 511 South Shippen Street, first child of Jacob and Fannie Simon Lestz, whose parents had found a home in America as a land of opportunity and freedom. Lestz felt that in his civic activities he was helping repay the debt to the United States for all it had enabled the family to do.
He graduated from Lancaster Boys High School in the Depression year of 1931, and the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania in 1935, receiving departmental honors in merchandising.
His first post-college job was with the fledgeling Lancaster Independent weekly newspaper, first writing subscribers' names in circulation books at $15 a week, then rising as he was given reportorial assignments by Willim N. Yonung, editor.
During World War II Lestz served in the U.S. Army Air Force and met and married his first wife, Edith Allport Lestz and soon after the war they returned to Lancaster to begin a family.
In subsequent years he returned to the staff of the Lancaster New Era as a reporter and columnist and took over the "Scribbler" column which continues to be a feature today. He and his wife Edith had two children. After her death in 1957, he married Margaret Gordon Dana.
Gerry's newspaper work offered him a birdseye view of civic activities in the city and he had an opportunity to interview many people, of both local and wider interest. This work led to advocacy for historic preservation, which became a lifelong passion. With a group of other commited activists he helped to found the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County and save the Sehner Elliott von Hess House from demolition.,
Often in the face of indifference or resistance he struggled to make other Lancaster citizens aware of the beauty and value of their received historic legacy.
Lestz was the first president of the Demuth Foundation (now Demuth Museum) and served in that post for three of its formative years, Under his leadership the Foundation purchased the home of Charles Demuth and the next-door property of Dorothea and the late Christopher Demuth, that housed the oldest tobacco shop in the U.S.
Other institutions which he served as president were the Lancaster Public Library, the Lancaster Summer Arts Festival, the Heritage Center, and the Lancaster Community Concert Association. He was state president of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, and brought the annual craft fair back to Lancaster.
Gerald and Margaret Lestz co-sponsored the Scholastic Art Contest for 15 years, and founded the local Scholastic Writing Contest, giving local students opportunity to win national honors.
Lestz edited and published Baer's Almanac, a local publication founded in 1825, for 60 years from 1948 onward. He wrote a weekly column for the Strasburg Weekly News, heading each column with a new poem he had written.
He was the author of about 30 books and booklets on the county, the Amish, folklore and history. Some of the books were published as Science Press limited editions.
During his lifetime, Lestz received numerous awards and recognition. In the last years of his life he was especially pleased to be made an honorary member of the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge of Quarryville.
In his last years, he was attended by Fernanda Snader who brought light and laughter to the final stage of his long and happy life.
He is survived by a son Michael Elliot Lestz, husband of Martha O'Rourke, Hartford, CT; a daughter, Linda Lestz Weidman, wife of Douglas, Lancaster, PA; a step son, Robert Gordon Dana, husband of Anne, Washington Boro; eight grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. He was predeceased by a sister, Minna Cohen, a brother, Tobias and a step daughter, Sally Dana Boebel.
Relatives and friends are invited to a Celebration of Gerry's Life on Sunday, September 20, 2009 at 2:00 PM at 375 Conestoga Drive, Lancaster, PA. The family will receive friends at the residence from 1:00 PM until time of service. Kindly omit flowers. Memorial contributions may be sent to the Demuth Foundation, 120 E. King St., Lancaster, PA 17602; Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St., Lancaster, PA 17602 or Clinic for Special Children, 535 Bunker Hill Road, Strasburg, PA 17579.
