Boston, MA
Henry Lee, self-effacing savior of the Boston Public Garden, dies at 99 – The Boston Globe
Mr. Lee, an unlikely hero in a development battle that remains a storied chapter in Boston history, died Monday night in Beverly Hospital of cardiac arrest. He was 99 and had divided his time between Beacon Hill and Beverly Farms.
For more than 40 years, he led the Friends of the Public Garden from its origins in a Back Bay living room to its pivotal role as a powerful guardian of Boston landmarks.
Having served in the US Foreign Service earlier in his life, Mr. Lee brought his diplomatic training to bear on negotiating with city and state officials to form private-public partnerships that protected the Public Garden and other green spaces.
And though he worked tirelessly to oppose developer Mort Zuckerman’s initial Park Plaza proposal, Mr. Lee was just as persistent at deflecting acclaim for his own efforts.
“It’s not just modesty,” he told the Globe in 1995, adding that he believed it was “counterproductive” for him to be the focus of too much praise. “Many people work very hard for the Friends,” he said. “I do all the talking, and I get the credit.”
Mr. Lee did more than simply talk, however. During his presidency, he refused to take a salary and ran much of the operation from his home — even typing all correspondence as the organization expanded its activities beyond protection and upkeep of the Public Garden.
“He used to say, ‘We can either spend money on the parks or we can have an office,’ ” said Liz Vizza, his successor as president.
As president, Mr. Lee sometimes personally injected a treatment into trees along the Commonwealth Avenue Mall to blunt the blight of Dutch elm disease. As president emeritus in his 90s, he’d stop by the organization’s office to let everyone know a park bench needed spiffing up or a plaque had slipped from its holder.
“Henry’s combination of sweeping vision with incredible persistence and hard work to get all the little details right has transformed such an important part of how we think of Boston and how we interact with one of the most foundational spaces in the city,” said Mayor Michelle Wu.
Wu praised “the care and attention” he brought “to making sure everyone all across the city can experience beauty in their day-to-day lives and find that pop of color or calming presence. He devoted his life to making sure all of us would have that gift.”
Though born into a household of very modest means, Mr. Lee carried himself with a Boston Brahmin bearing, and his extended family was woven into the city’s history. Then-Governor Frank Sargent, who supported the original Park Plaza proposal, was a relative.
After graduating from Harvard College as a scholarship student and finishing graduate work, Mr. Lee spent several years in the US Foreign Service, which provided essential diplomatic training for his future civic work.
“Henry was a mentor and an inspiration to me and to so many of us in the parks advocacy world,” Vizza said. “He really taught me the true meaning of diplomatic advocacy.”
In an increasingly acrimonious world, Mr. Lee wrapped in a blanket of polite charm his steely will to preserve history and places where anyone and everyone could gather.
“He would often say, ‘You can beat down the doors of City Hall once, but the next time you go they’re going to change the locks,’ ” Vizza recalled. “He knew that to succeed you had to work with people.”
Born in Boston on Jan. 13, 1925, Mr. Lee was the son of Henry Lee and Frances LeMoyne Lee. Though Mr. Lee, his oldest son, and his father shared a first name, none of them used Jr. or III to highlight which generation.
Mr. Lee’s father had been a stellar runner and equestrian steeplechase competitor, but injuries from riding kept him from holding most jobs. His mother had raised two children from a previous marriage in addition to Henry.
When Mr. Lee was a boy, serious ear infections left him so weak that doctors thought he wouldn’t live past 12. “I think he sort of put that forecast to shame,” said his son Henry of Brookline.
Mr. Lee attended the Brooks School in North Andover, took a year off to work in Arizona earning money for Harvard, and then graduated with a bachelor’s degree. He also received a master’s in history from Stanford University.
In 1945, while a Harvard sophomore, Mr. Lee married Joan Cabot Metcalf, whom he had met at a party.
“Dad said, ‘If I didn’t marry her, I would have lost her,’ ” their daughter Karen of Portland, Ore., told The Beacon Hill Times earlier this year.
Joan Lee, a philanthropist who held behind-the-scenes roles in civic organizations, died in 2019.
Mr. Lee’s Foreign Service postings took him to Germany and Washington, D.C., before the family moved back to Boston in the late 1950s.
He taught at Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge and was a teacher and administrator at the Dexter School in Brookline, which overlapped into the civic activism that made him a public figure as he turned to it full-time in retirement.
The Friends of the Public Garden currently has more than 3,000 members from 32 states and an annual budget of $3.6 million. Since 1970, the group has helped raise and invest about $50 million in funds for specific allocations, including maintaining trees and the upkeep of sculptures and sustaining other green spaces.
This year, the organization established the Henry Lee Fund for Boston Parks to honor his legacy of commitment.
Along with the Friends, Mr. Lee led organizations such as the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Charitable Irish Society and a host of other groups.
“I used to kid him: ‘Have you ever been in an organization you weren’t head of,’ ” said his son, a senior lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Mr. Lee, his son said, “was my guiding light. He was the one who taught me where the bar is in life: ‘If you want to be a success, this is what you have to do to achieve it.’ “
A highly successful swimmer as a youth, Mr. Lee won numerous victory trophies, but into adulthood he kept only one — for a second-place finish.
“He was in lane seven and thought he was so far ahead of everybody else, but he forgot there was a guy in lane eight, who won,” his son said. “For his whole life he kept that trophy to remind himself that you cannot do anything without giving 100 percent.”
A service will be announced for Mr. Lee, who in addition to his son Henry and daughter Karen leaves another daughter, Eliza Schierloh of Beaumont, Texas; another son, Thomas of Seattle; 10 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
“To a real extent his career began at 54,” Mr. Lee’s son Henry said.
“When Park Plaza fell into his lap,” he added, “all of a sudden all these civic opportunities came his way and he made the best of them. When you walk through the Public Garden today, you look around and say, ‘A part of this is because of him.’ “
Despite all of accomplishments, Mr. Lee was unwilling to boast even a little.
“Although I have never amounted to much, I have had interesting careers in government, education, and numerous civic and historical endeavors,” he wrote in 1998 for the 50th annual report of his Harvard College class.
Though Mr. Lee worried mightily about national and world affairs, he focused his efforts locally — including improving a park that was a stroll away from his Beacon Hill home.
“It may be rationalization, but doing something effective in small compass has seemed in many ways more rewarding than grappling futilely with larger issues,” he wrote. “In all events, I have kept busy and out of trouble.”
Bryan Marquard can be reached at bryan.marquard@globe.com.
Boston, MA
‘That is gaslighting’: Boston officials flummoxed by Trump administration’s rejection of federal funding for flood protections – The Boston Globe
Now, a plan to prevent that from happening again is in limbo, after the city’s application for a $10 million grant to build a berm and flood wall was denied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier this fall following six years of collaborative planning.
Ten months into a Trump administration where climate-related funds and programs have been targeted for cancellation or clawbacks, the rejection of a climate-related grant doesn’t come as a surprise.
It’s the framing of the rejection that caught city planners off guard.
The stated reason? FEMA cites Boston’s failure to respond to concerns raised by the federal agency — an accusation the city and locals engaged in the yearslong application process say just isn’t true. The concerns raised in the letter, including the technical feasibility of the project and its ability to mitigate flood risk, had already been addressed, they say.
“That is gaslighting,” Steve Hollinger, a Fort Point resident and longtime advocate for a sustainable neighborhood, said of the government response. “I think it’s obvious that they are casting blame intentionally.”
The plan — to build a 2,300-foot berm and flood wall with $10 million of city funds and $10 million from the federal government — was first hatched in 2019, in the wake of those devastating 2018 storms.
In response to FEMA’s rejection letter, Brian Swett, the city’s chief of environment, energy and open space, sent a letter outlining the various ways all of FEMA’s concerns had already been addressed.
“Given the risk of inaction to life, safety, property, and critical infrastructure, we are providing the attached summary of the recent and extensive coordination with FEMA and its consultant to provide you with confidence that issues raised in that analysis have been addressed,” he wrote.
Now, with a government shutdown, it’s not clear whether FEMA will reconsider its decision, which the agency said had been final.
Inquiries sent to the regional FEMA office and to its national headquarters were responded to with automatically generated messages indicating that inquiries would be responded to “once the government funding lapse is resolved.”
Even as the plans sit in limbo, the city and neighborhood advocates have continued to meet to discuss next steps. The memory of those 2018 storms remains fresh.
When the storms hit, they were a sign of what the city knew was coming. Two years earlier, a city report, called “Climate Ready Boston” had warned that coastal flooding was among the most significant climate risks facing the city. But in the intervening years — and in the years following those 2018 storms — development in the Fort Point and Seaport neighborhoods boomed.
A flood wall wouldn’t solve all of the area’s flooding problems, but it would buy the area time while developers along the coastline beefed up properties and completed plans to build climate-ready real estate.
What’s more, the protections from the structure would extend beyond the neighborhood. As sea levels continue to rise and storms get stronger with climate change, modeling shows that the Fort Point Channel is a flood entry pathway for larger areas of South Boston.
“This shoreline somehow has to find its way to be protected, because it [Fort Point] is lower than what’s across the channel,” said Tom Ready, a board member of the Fort Point Neighborhood Association. “The water is just going to spill into the neighborhood.”
The structure would extend along the southeast edge of the Fort Point Channel, roughly between Necco Street and Dorchester Avenue. The project would also include deployable flood walls that could be added during high-risk events and later removed.
For six years, the city corresponded monthly with FEMA, working on the project’s specs, ensuring the city was taking into account all possible flood paths — of which there are several — before committing to this solution.
“The objective was that our project would be in the ground and completed within probably two years,” said Richard McGuinness, deputy director for climate change and environmental planning at the city of Boston’s Planning Department.
Now, it’s not clear what will happen, but the city is considering its next steps.
Hopefully, city officials say, FEMA will reconsider its decision in light of their response. If not, they may have to make due with having just half the budget, and figure out a plan b.
“We are actively looking at alternatives to provide near-term flood protection for the Fort Point neighborhood, that would be paid for by the city and be built in the short term,” said Christopher Osgood, Boston’s director of the Office of Climate Resilience.
Tom Ready, in Fort Point, said it’s a huge disappointment to be so close to the finish, after so many years of work, and have the application rejected. But he also said it wasn’t a surprise.
“We just view it as, you know, just another in the long line of problems that the state of Massachusetts and the city of Boston is having with the Trump administration,” he said.
Sabrina Shankman can be reached at sabrina.shankman@globe.com.
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Boston will be facing off against Washington tonight.
The Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards will play inside of TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, this evening, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.
The Celtics are No. 12 in Eastern Conference standing, with three wins and five losses this season. The Wizards are No. 14 in Eastern Conference and have a season record of one win and six losses.
Celtics star player Jayson Tatum is still sidelined due to his Achilles tendon rupturing in the second round of the NBA playoffs this past summer. That being said, Shams Charania of ESPN said he has not been ruled out this season.
Here’s what you need to know about tonight’s game.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
How to watch Celtics game tonight
You can watch tonight’s game on NBC Sports Boston.
You can also stream it on Fubo.
Watch the Celtics on Fubo!
Can I listen to the Celtics game on radio?
Yes, you can. To listen to Wednesday’s Celtics game on the radio, tune in to 98.5 FM The Sports Hub at the time of tip-off, as 98.5 is the flagship station of the Boston franchise, according to their website.
“Occasionally when scheduling conflicts arise, select games can be heard live on ROCK 92.9,” the Sports Hub website said.
If you live in Providence, you can listen to coverage of the game on WPRV 790 AM.
Celtics guard Jaylen Brown scores 26.8 points per game on average as well as 4.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists during this season.
Brown also shoots 38.0% behind the arc.
Celtics guard Payton Pritchard scores 15.0 points per game on average as well as 4.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists so far this season.
Pritchard shoots 21.3% behind the arc.
Rin Velasco is a trending reporter. She can be reached at rvelasco@gannett.com.
The Boston Police Department has asked the public for help identifying an individual involved in a larceny incident at the 776 Boylston St. Lululemon on Sunday at about 4:30 p.m.
The suspect stole approximately $634 in merchandise and was seen at the Lululemon on Newbury Street later about 10 minutes later, police said.
The department encourages anyone with information relating to the incident to contact District D-4 at (617) 343-5619. Anonymous tips may be provided through the CrimeStoppers Tip Line.
Incident summary
The Boston Police Department reports that its officers responded to 230 incidents in its summary ending at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Those include five aggravated assaults, four stolen cars and 25 instances of miscellaneous larceny.
Arrests
– Depriest Sims, 45 Chestnut Rd., Avon. Uninsured motor vehicle.
– Hector Colon, 110 George, Roxbury. Warrant.
– Jael Letang, no address listed. Operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license.
– Ivan Alfaro-Umana, 23 Oceanview St., Winthrop Town. Assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
– Mercy Kiiza, 126 Border St., East Boston. Assault and battery on police officer.
– Lee Matthews, 40 Woolson, Dorchester. Assault and battery on a 60+ or disabled individual.
– Adrian Larkins, 33 Wellington Hill St., Mattapan. Cash on delivery carrier, larceny under $1,200.
– Denise White, 100 Pleasant St., Boston. Cash on delivery carrier, larceny under $1,200.
– Gilberto Roman, 112 Southampton St., Boston. Possession to distribute Class A drug.
– Steven Waites, 112 Southampton St., Roxbury. Warrant, fail/delay service.
– Monique Heard, 120 Attickson, Boston. Assault and battery.
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