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News, Obituaries
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Leo Nevas, Westport Legal Icon, Dies at 97
UPDATE Leo Nevas, lawyer, philanthropist, international human rights activist, and a Westporter involved in Jewish causes for 70 years, died Wednesday at his Westport home. He was 97. 
Leo Nevas: Longtime Westport attorney. File photo
Nevas, a one-time Westport municipal judge who drove himself to his law office on Post Road East until several months ago, had suffered a mild stroke in May and a more serious one on Sunday.
“Our town and our nation have lost not only an icon of the legal profession but a man who came to symbolize how one person can make a difference in the lives of so many here in Westport and around the world,” said First Selectman Gordon F. Joseloff.
“In Westport, he will be remembered as a giant who not only shaped our modern history but someone who helped make our town the warm and welcoming place it is today. There is no finer legacy.”
Honored last fall by Norwalk High School where he was a 1928 graduate, Nevas told an interviewer at the time: “I’ve had good luck to reach this age. But it has also helped that I have continued the full-time practice of law.”
Nevas moved to Westport in the late 1930s and helped break what was then an unwritten rule among real estate agents not to sell to Jews. Over the years, he represented many prominent clients but none more famous than Paul Newman.
“I have represented Paul Newman, in business, charitable and personal matters for over 40 years,” Nevas recalled in 2008. “About 20 years ago, he became interested in doing something significant to help little kids facing life-threatening illness. I was involved from the beginning.”
Leo Nevas with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in an undated photo. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Nevas family photo
The project was Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang camps.
In gratitude, Newman along with his Newman’s Own Foundation, established the Leo Nevas Human Rights Program and Award through the United Nations Association of the USA.
The award commemorated Nevas’ four decades of leadership on the association’s board of directors. It is presented annually to an individual who embraces human rights around the world.
“Leo Nevas was both the oar and the anchor for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camps and continues to keep us afloat,” Newman said at the time.
In a message to a 1996 dinner in Nevas’ honor at Norwalk’s Congregation Beth El, which Nevas helped found, Jerome J. Shestack, then president-elect of the American Bar Association, offered this tribute:
“In all of his endeavors at the bar, in his community, in this nation and in the international community, Leo has raised a standard of excellence and carried the banner of human worth and dignity.”
Leo Nevas takes some notes during a White House meeting with President George H. W. Bush. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Nevas family photo
The late Rabbi Alexander Schindler of Westport, the former head of the largest wing of Reform Judiasm, was keynote speaker at the dinner.
“I first encountered Leo over 30 years ago now, when we moved to this area, and it did not take me long to learn that he is the patriarch, the true and trusted leader of this community, though other might claim or even hold the title,” he said.
“No one else commands a greater respect. No one else evokes a more unswerving trust.”
Schindler said it was fitting that the tribute to Nevas take place at Beth El, but noted that over the years, Nevas had affiliated with and sustained other congregations, including two Conservative, two Reform, and one Orthodox in the area.
“The synagogue is his spiritual womb,” Schindler said.
Leo Nevas at a 2005 event. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
He recalled that the school wing of Westport’s Temple Israel bears Nevas’ and his late wife Libby’s names. And that Beth El’s religious school perpetuates the memory of Nevas’ parents.
Born Jan. 20, 1912 in Norwalk, Nevas was the seventh and youngest son of Morris and Ethel Baron Navasky, Lithuanian immigrants who met and married in this country. His father operated a small chain of grocery stores in the area.
At Norwalk High School, he lettered in football as a lineman, basketball as a guard and baseball as an infielder.
After a year of work to save for college, he went one year to the Junior College of Connecticut, then commuted a year to night school at New York University before enrolling at the University of Michigan where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1933.
He earned a law degree from Cornell University in 1936 where he was president of the Law School Association and an editor of the Law Review. He joined his brother Bernard, known as Ben, in the practice of law in South Norwalk and later opened the firm’s Westport office.
Leo and Libby Nevas in an undated photo. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Nevas family photo
Nevas met his wife to be, Libby Joseloff of Hartford, in 1934. They married in 1938 and moved to Westport. She died in 2002 at the age of 87.
In response to the wave of anti-Semitism in the 1930s, Nevas formed a branch of the American Jewish Congress in Norwalk, later becoming a vice president of the national organization and eventually chairman of its board.
Over the years, Nevas acquired numerous real estate holdings in Westport, and in the process became quite wealthy. This enabled him and his wife to engage in numerous philanthropic causes, often anonymously.
The list of organizations Nevas was involved with and honors earned could fill pages. A sampling:
He was a former judge of the Westport Municipal Court and member of the Connecticut Commission of Human Rights. He was founding chairman of the Westport National Bank, a director of State National Bank, Connecticut Bank & Trust Company and a trustee of Norwalk Hospital.
Also, he was president, Norwalk Jewish Community Council; president, Temple Beth El; president, Birchwood Country Club of Westport; board, John F. Kennedy School of Government Institute for Economic and Social Policy in the Middle East; secretary-treasurer, Hole in the Wall Fund, Inc.; board, American Jewish World Services; vice president, Fairfield County Community Foundation, and chairman, Five Town Community Foundation.
For all the boards and committees he sat on, Nevas did not shy away from getting personally involved to promote his beliefs, even at some risk to himself.
He became an early champion of the rights of dissidents and Jews in the Soviet Union, often serving as a link between Soviet dissidents and the broader human rights community. He carried information and messages to and from the Soviet Union despite frequent intimidation and threats. He even had some clothing specially tailored to help him in his efforts.
During a Soviet trip in the early 1970s, he asked Westporter Gordon Joseloff, then a UPI correspondent in Moscow, to arrange for him to meet dissident and Nobel Laureate Andrei D. Sakharov.
Nevas often liked to tell the story of how early on he managed to converse with Sakharov, who spoke no English, using German and Yiddish. He remembered how Sakharov would point to his apartment’s ceiling in Moscow, warning Nevas that the KGB had microphones planted there.
Sakharov and his wife, Elena Bonner, and their family later became good friends with Nevas after Sakharov’s return from internal exile in Gorky in 1986. Nevas helped the Sakharov family financially, enabling some of them to emigrate to the United States.
During several Moscow visits, Nevas met some distant relatives, at times wearing several layers of clothing so he could leave the clothing articles behind.
Well into his 90s, Nevas enjoyed practicing law at Nevas, Nevas, & Capasse, often going in on weekends. Until his 90th year, he also enjoyed a round of golf and a couple of sets of doubles tennis.
“I gave up smoking cold turkey in the 1940s,” he recalled last year. “But I still enjoy a glass of wine with my meals three or four nights a week.”
He is survived by his daughter, Jo-Ann Nevas Price and her husband Michael; his son Bernard Nevas and his wife Terry; his son Marc Nevas and his wife Kate; and his eight grandchildren: Daniel Price and his wife Lisa; David Nevas and his wife Jennifer; Rebecca Price, Rachel Nevas Peled and her husband Itsik, Joshua Nevas, Benjamin Nevas, Michael Nevas and Isaac Nevas.
Funeral services will be held Sunday at 1:30 p.m at Congregation Beth El, 109 East Ave., Norwalk.
There will be a minyan at 7 p.m. on Sunday at 17 Quarter Mile Road. The family will be sitting shiva at 17 Quarter Mile Road and will welcome visitors on Monday, through Thursday from 1:30-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.and on Friday 2-5 p.m. There will be a minyan Monday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations may made to the American Jewish World Service; the Navasky Religious School at Congregation Beth El, Norwalk, or Achievement First Bridgeport Academy, Bridgeport.
_______
The following obituary was provided by the family.
Leo Nevas, international human rights advocate, philanthropist, Jewish communal leader and distinguished Connecticut attorney, died Aug. 26, 2009 at his home in Westport following a stroke. He was 97 years old.
In 1936, after graduating from the University of Michigan and Cornell Law School as a member of The Cornell Law Review, Mr. Nevas joined his brother
Bernard Nevas’ law office in Norwalk. Following his brother’s death in 1942, he opened an office in Westport and became the managing partner.
He continued to practice law for 73 years until his death and rose to become one of the region’s leading experts on corporate, real estate, land use, zoning and tax-exempt organization law. Mr. Nevas served as Judge of the Westport Municipal Court and was a member of the Connecticut, American and International Bar Associations.
Mr. Nevas developed an early and enduring commitment to human rights around the world. He served as president of the International League for Human Rights; president of the Blaustein Institute for Human Rights; member of the International Institute for Human Rights, Strasbourg; chair of the Human Rights Committee of World Peace Through Law; and a member of the Connecticut Human Rights Commission.
Mr. Nevas became an early champion of the rights of dissidents and Jews in the Soviet Union. He made his first of many trips to the USSR in 1965 and became friends with Andrei Sakharov and his wife Elena Bonner after first speaking to Dr. Sakharov in the early 1970s and then meeting the Nobel Peace Prize winner after he was released from exile in Gorky in the late 1980s.
He often served as a link between Soviet dissidents and the broader human rights community, bringing information and messages to and from the USSR despite frequent intimidation and threat.
He believed strongly in the potential for the United Nations to advance human rights and campaigned broadly for both reforms at the United Nations and increased U.S. engagement and leadership in human rights.
He served as chairman of the United Nations NGO Human Rights Committee. At the United Nations Association of the USA, he was the longest serving board member and former vice chairman.
In 2007, UNA-USA recognized his life-long leadership in human rights by creating the Leo Nevas Human Rights Program and Award, of which Mr. Nevas was the inaugural recipient.
Mr. Nevas was also an active national leader of the Jewish community. He served as chairman of the Board of Governors of the American Jewish Committee, president of the Norwalk Jewish Community Council and president of Congregation Beth El in Norwalk. He served on the boards of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Institute for Economic and Social Policy in the Middle East, and American Jewish World Service.
Mr. Nevas and Paul Newman were friends and partners for 40 years during which Mr. Nevas helped Mr. Newman launch Newman’s Own and the Hole in the Wall Gang camps for children with life-threatening diseases.
Mr. Nevas served as a member of the Board of Directors and secretary of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camps. Before he died, Mr. Newman said, “Leo Nevas was both the oar and the anchor of the Hole in the Wall Camps and continues to keep us afloat.”
Mr. Nevas was awarded honorary degrees from the University of Bridgeport and Sacred Heart University. He was founding chairman of the Board of Westport National Bank, a member of the Board of Trustees at Norwalk Hospital, vice president of the Fairfield County Community Foundation and chairman of the Five Town Community Foundation.
A steadfast supporter of Jewish education, he was an active and continuous member of Reform, Conservative and Orthodox synagogues. The religious school of Westport’s Reform synagogue, Temple Israel, bears the names of Mr. Nevas and his late wife Libby. The religious school at the Conservative synagogue in Norwalk, Congregation Beth El, is named for Mr. Nevas’ parents.
Leo Nevas was born on Jan. 20, 1912, the seventh and youngest son of Morris and Ethel Baron Navasky. He grew up in Norwalk and worked in his parents’ grocery store before attending college.
He met his wife, Libby Joseloff in 1934 and was married to her from 1938 until her death in 2002.
He is survived by his daughter, Jo-Ann Nevas Price and her husband Michael; his son Bernard Nevas and his wife Terry; his son Marc Nevas and his wife Kate; and his eight grandchildren: Daniel Price and his wife Lisa, David Nevas and his wife Jennifer, Rebecca Price, Rachel Nevas Peled and her husband Itsik, Joshua Nevas, Benjamin Nevas, Michael Nevas and Isaac Nevas.
Funeral services will be held Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Congregation Beth El, 109 East Ave., Norwalk.
There will be a minyan at 7 p.m. on Sunday at 17 Quarter Mile Road, Westport. The family will be sitting shiva at 17 Quarter Mile Road and will welcome visitors on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1:30-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. and on Friday 2-5 p.m. There will be a minyan Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
In lieu of flowers donations may made to the American Jewish World Service; the Navasky Religious School at Congregation Beth El, Norwalk, or Achievement First Bridgeport Academy, Bridgeport.
Comments: Comment Policy
With the passing of Leo Nevas, Westport has lost one of the most outstanding individuals in he history of the Town. He was very important in my life and the lives of so many others in the community. He will be greatly missed by us all. My sympathies to his family.
A. Beasey, M.D.
I could not agree more. Leo was a dear friend and mentor, and his counsel on so many matters was always thoughtful and compelling. He was a true philanthropist, giving of his time and his love, and he will be sorely missed--but his impact will remain forever.
The Brothers of Temple Lodge 65 mourn the passing of our dear Brother Leo. To the family and friends of Brother Leo, we tender our heartfelt sympathies. He was our Brother, and we are deeply sensible of the aching void caused by his passing. May He who never forsakes those who put their trust in Him, ever have you in His Holy keeping.
And so let him sleep. We say neither “good-night” nor “good-bye”, but “good-morrow, Brother,” in the confident knowledge that this seeming end is but the sleep of the wintertime with the bud even now swelling to a glorious blossoming.
We are unceasingly grateful for every God-given virtue which the life of Brother Leo expressed and we are comforted and sustained by the assurance that life goes on unbroken and uncorrupted and that God alone is the Life and Light of men.
Rest in peace Brother.
It is difficult to conceive of Westport without Leo. He was a force of nature: Energetic, enthusiastic, warm-hearted, witty. He was the eternal optimist, whose mesmerizing stories, no matter how often retold, affirmed the power of one person to change the world. Sitting with Leo one received his undivided attention as he prodded and challenged. Receiving a letter from him—not an email, but a real letter, thoughtfully drafted, edited, signed, and folded into an envelope—was a special treat as one could hear in the typed words his persistent, passionate, impatient voice. To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, “Some people see things as they are and say why? Others dream things that never were and say, why not?” Leo was both a dreamer and a doer. He has left a gap in nature.
It wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I discovered that Leo Nevas was my distant cousin. (Actually, Leo discovered it, and got in touch with me when he read something in the papers about a little magazine I had started while a student at the Yale Law School). The more I learned about Leo and his humanitarian and other activities, the more amazed I was. And my latest amazement was to read in his obituary that he was 97 years old. That would put him in his mid-nineties when we had dinner a few years ago at one of his favorite restaurants, after I had spoken at the Westport library—he was full of energy, ideas and enthusiasms that still burn brightly.
Victor S. Navasky
Victo S. Navasky
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