PLYMOUTH, N.H.-
The head of northern New England’s largest non-profit funding organization will deliver the commencement speech at Plymouth State University’s 2010 Undergraduate Commencement ceremony May 22. Lewis Feldstein has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation since 1986, and under his leadership, the Foundation’s assets have grown from $25 million to more than $375 million. Feldstein said the Foundation supports people and organizations who are selflessly serving the state’s needs.
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| Lewis Feldstein is Plymouth State University’s 2010 Undergraduate Commencement speaker and Granite State Award winner. |
“More than almost any state in the country, New Hampshire depends on the volunteered time, money and ideas of its citizens to address the state’s most important work,” Feldstein said. “As the state’s largest foundation, the NHCF is a critical part of this NH way of doing business.”
PSU President Sara Jayne Steen said Lew Feldstein’s charitable work has positively impacted many people throughout the Granite State.
“His influence for good has been enormous,” Steen said. “Thousands of people have lived better lives because of his efforts.”
Before coming to the Foundation, Lew was provost of Antioch University New England Graduate School He served for seven years as senior staff to New York City Mayor John Lindsay. He has worked as a journalist and with the civil rights movement in Mississippi.
In 2008, Feldstein was selected as a NonProfit Times “Power and Influence Top 50″ nonprofit executive. Business NH Magazine has twice named him as one of the ten most influential people in New Hampshire, and The New Hampshire Century: Concord Monitor Profiles of One Hundred People Who Shaped It (UPNE, 2001) also includes Lew. He was recently honored with the City Year NH Lifetime of Service Award, and has received seven honorary doctorates. He said he is excited to be the recipient of a Granite State Award from Plymouth State.
“I’m just delighted – to be awarded a Granite State Award is a big deal,” said Feldstein. “The list of those who have been honored with a Granite State Award puts me in pretty special company.”
Lew has written and lectured widely on social capital, community building and charitable giving, and has served on numerous national boards of directors. With Robert Putnam of Harvard University, he co-founded the Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America and co-authored Better Together: Restoring the American Community (Simon & Schuster, 2003).
He lives in Hancock, N.H.
For more information about this release, contact Bruce Lyndes, PSU Media Relations Mgr., (603) 535-2775 or blyndes@plymouth.edu
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