by Connie Larrabee
 

Bob Lerner left Harvard a couple of years ago, but Harvard never left him. There he was, last winter, paying for a series of sizable ads in this newspaper to argue against proposed cuts in the library budget. The ads were classic Lerner—erudite, abstract, maybe a little outrageous, but infused with passionate regard for a respected town institution under fire. Longtime Lerner-watchers could visualize Bob as he wrote the ad copy, bristling with righteous indignation at the thought that anyone would consider cutting into the cultural and intellectual lifeblood of the community.

This kind of passion drove him to plunge deeply into political action during his three decades in town, and to compile an enviable record of achievement. He was a selectman, and served with distinction on the Planning Board for 10 years, the Zoning Board of Appeals for five years, the Energy Advisory Committee, the Harvard Housing Authority, the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, and the Conservation Commission. He was involved in developing the Devens Reuse Plan, and in advocating for continued housing on Devens.

Anyone who knew Bob, who worked with him, or saw him in action at Town Meeting, would agree that he was a fierce, tireless advocate for the things he believed in. But in 2007, when he and Bill Ashe were named that year’s citizens of note, the proclamation at Annual Town Meeting included mention of his ability to compromise for the common good, and to respect opponents’ opinions. Although he loved a good argument, and seemed to relish challenging the powers-that-be, his commitment to the town and its future was never in doubt.

Bob was born in Worcester and graduated from Shrewsbury High School, where he won prizes—the New England Championships, in fact—for debating and extemporaneous speaking. He was trained as an electrical engineer at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning his doctorate there in 1959. He worked at MIT for more than 40 years, eventually becoming a senior staff member at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. He was a prolific inventor, a writer of prize-winning papers (and several unpublished mystery novels), an avid gardener, and a firm believer in community involvement, starting while he was in high school. He loved music and participated in recorder ensembles and the Nashoba Valley Chorale. He traveled all over the world for work and pleasure, taking his family with him whenever he could. He was interested in everything, and incredibly generous with his time and his talents.

On New Year’s Eve, Bob died at home in Fayetteville, N.Y., from complications of liver cancer, at the age of 82. He wanted parts of the Faure Requiem to be sung at his memorial service in Harvard, and so it will be, by a choir made up of volunteers from Harvard’s Unitarian Church, the Nashoba Valley Chorale, the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Chelmsford, where Bob’s daughter Cyndi is music director, and All Saints Episcopal Church in Chelmsford. The service will be held at the Harvard Unitarian Church at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5.