Early Life and Education
Zakim was born in Clifton, NJ and became interested in civil rights and activism after he encountered anti-semitism as a boy. He earned his undergraduate degree at American University in Washington, DC and then graduated 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 Mass. 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 Mr. 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 later married his wife Joyce and had three children, Josh, Deena and Shari.
Read more about this topic: Leonard P. Zakim
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or education:
“Some would find fault with the morning red, if they ever got up early enough.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is not enough that our life is an easy one. We must live on the stretch, retiring to our rest like soldiers on the eve of a battle, looking forward to the strenuous sortie of the morrow.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered.”
—Jean Piaget (1896–1980)