Sheldon Seevak; philanthropist who matched technology, justice
After decades working for the
Mr. Seevak, 77, who died of a heart attack Saturday while on vacation in the Berkshires, was devoted to the Facing History and Ourselves program he endowed at his alma mater Boston Latin.
Mr. Seevak was a regular visitor to the classroom and would often spend evenings reading students' nightly postings on the class's online message boards.
"He desperately wanted to get a program in there that would get kids thinking and talking and questioning the world around them," said teacher Judi Freeman.
Mr. Seevak, who was known as Shelley to his friends, sent a steady stream of e-mails to Freeman commenting on students' postings and keeping track of graduates as they went on to college and careers.
"Shelley supported partnerships that made change," said Facing History director Margot Strom. "He sheltered us, nourished us, personally and professionally. It will be very hard to know there will be no more e-mails from Shelley. He had the highest standards and the biggest smile."
The son of Ukrainian immigrants Edward and Dora, Mr. Seevak was born in Boston and grew up in Roxbury near Franklin Park. He had five sisters. His father drove a taxi and worked as a police officer among other jobs.
His sister Jacquelyn Seevak Sanders of Chicago said her brother's adult life was driven by a "tremendous gratitude for what this country and our educations had given us."
Mr. Seevak graduated from Boston Latin in 1946. He played football and managed the track team.
He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois. In an interview with Boston Latin students for the Facing History class website, learntoquestion .com, he spoke of bunking with dozens of returning GIs in the school's skating rink, which was converted to housing to handle the onslaught of students. The men's stories of the trauma of war deeply affected Mr. Seevak.
In 1953, he received his law degree from Harvard and became an officer in the Coast Guard during the Korean War. He served as counsel during court marshal proceedings and later became a trial attorney for the IRS in New York.
He met his wife, Elinor, when he was in law school and she was a student at Simmons College. They married in 1955 and the couple spent most of their lives living in New York City.
His wife said she was immediately drawn to his kindness and generosity. "He was a wonderful man. We had 52 very happy years," she said.
Mr. Seevak also endowed programs at Harvard Law School, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Columbia University, and the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.
In 2003, he gave $2 million to Harvard Law to endow the Seevak/Facing History and Ourselves Fund to support courses, seminars, and research to combat discrimination and prejudice.
At Boston Latin, Mr. Seevak also endowed a computer lab for the students and supports an annual website competition in which student teams design pages devoted to groundbreaking local, national, and international figures.
Ke Zhang, an MIT sophomore who graduated from Boston Latin in 2006, competed in the website competition for four years and was impressed when he looked into the audience each year and spotted Mr. Seevak.
As a freshman, Zhang was initially intimidated by the millionaire with the gold-rimmed glasses and firm handshake. But Mr. Seevak's smile and supportive voice set him at ease, he recalled.
"He was a presence. He wanted people to apply the technology to do something meaningful," said Zhang, who plans to become a doctor.
In addition to his wife and sister, Mr. Seevak leaves two daughters, Alison of California, and Marina of Cambridge; a son, Evan, of California; another sister Roddy Langsam of California; two grandsons and three granddaughters.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. today at Stanetsky Memorial Chapel, Brookline. Burial will be at Sharon Park.
